


The Time of Night is Midnight (New)

by MidnightHowling



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 01:16:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 70,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29925726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidnightHowling/pseuds/MidnightHowling
Summary: Dangerous. Monster. Killer. Murderer. Chaos. Azar has been called all of those. She was created for only one thing: death. Until the monster had better ideas and hid in the shadows for the perfect moment. Jasper started it all. That perfect moment came, Azar snatched it. A data center didn't see it and fell because of that. The creature gained information of a dangerous situation. Jasper started it all. She goes to fulfill a mission and saves two in the end; starting the ball to roll. Everything in her life has been messy. The blood pooling around her can say enough. All she has to do is navigate through it all and make it on top. Azar can, she's stubborn, wild, and won't stand down. That's all she needs in life... or is it? A forceful interaction with a grumpy bot changes a lot for her. But she can't help but feel the need to fight it, to not accept this could be good for her. Azar only thinks herself as monster. Many people throughout her life have told her so. The thing that parents tell their kids to fear. Her parents sure taught her as any other.This story is the newer version. It's been rewritten, hence in the title 'new'.
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> To start things off before anyone gets into this, there is death! Lots of it. Detailed description of killing people in vile ways. So if you don't like that, please don't read. Another thing, I try to keep the cursing down. I feel like if there's a lot of cursing, it dulls the tone and feel of the book. On some occasions there will a great number of curses in a chapter. Before going on, I will post warnings before chapters that need them. One last note, I'm will be posting about twenty chapters quickly to catch up to what I have already posted on the other two sites! Thanking for checking out my story!
> 
> Starting it off for this chapter with a warning: death!

On my wrist, an advanced watch sat with its screen on. Displayed on the screen were apps of both importance and fun. My finger clicked against the icon that had a notification above it. The blue email app opened and in the inbox was a message.

The message was from a friend of mine who was my helper. She kept a special someone of her team from figuring out where I am while passing details of Jasper to me. Mia was my eyes and ears on the inside of Aztec. The two of us assisted each other, a great friendship between us.

First off, the title stated there was trouble, my kind of trouble. A smirk graced my lips at the thought. I stopped mid-flight to hover miles above the ground to clearly read it. There was a Jasper base a few miles due northwest of my position and Mia heard word it was an information base. Those aren’t as well guarded as any the others but one false move or step, the entire mission could go south. Data would either be deleted or transferred depending on how important it was.

It was time to get back into the game. Ever since I left Aztec, I had to stay on the down low for the time being and that wasn’t fun. With no real home to go back to, the only temporary places that I could stay at were abandoned buildings or houses. If a human saw me, danger would arise from it.

Humans greatly dislike anything that doesn’t look ‘normal’ in their terms. Even if they were human but gone through some huge physical changes, others wouldn’t be so accepting of them. This included me: the six foot and seven inches tall shapeshifter whose appearance was that mixed between a dragon and human. People have run screaming away in fear about what I look like, I usually just avoid them all together now.

To find this base was going to be a bit trickier than saying so. Mia only gave me the generally area of the building. That was all she knew anyway. She also had to be carefully with how much information she gave to me or it would seem a little suspicious to Aztec. 

My nerves began to slowly buzz with energy. The power held within was ready to be used instead of wasted. A quick and appreciated email was sent back to Mia to thank her for the information. I pushed my wings down harder to start heading northwest towards the base.

Wind easily glided over my scaled body as I flew swiftly through the sky. The watch giving me directions in a straight line due to its modifications from another friend of mine: Jacob.

One of the most loyal man ever to walk upon the Earth. That was the main reason I couldn’t have him part of Mia’s job. Within moments, he would tell Zayden of my whereabouts. The man was and still is a great friend of mine but couldn’t know where I was for both of our sakes, mostly mine though.

A forlorn smile grew on my lips at the thought of him and Mia. Leaving the two and everyone else behind wasn’t something I wanted to do but my hand was forced. Jasper doesn’t care much about Aztec and their main objective is capturing me, again. Their prized procession.

Now, the smile disappeared and was taken over by a scowl. Jasper was a group of evil and nasty soldiers and humans you never want to meet in your life. They’re the reason I was different.

Anger slowly boiled up inside of me the more I thought about my past. Back then wasn’t pretty, nowhere close but it happened and now I was forced to live it. I used the extra anger to my advantage and pumped my wings even harder to gain more speed.

Screw people.

Danger buzzed in the air the closer I got to the general location of the building. Due to heightened senses, I gained an uncanny ability to sense nearing danger. Said thing was happening right now and caused me to become on edge. Anything, and I mean anything could happen within a snap of fingers.

The watch produced a small buzz and alerted that I have reached my designation. Wherever that might be. This was passed the border of Georgia and I was now in the territory of North Carolina.

Both had a forest bleeding over the border. Georgia called theirs the Chattahoochee National Forest while North Carolina called theirs the Nantahala National Forest. Or that’s what the map on my watch told me. It hasn’t been updated in a few months so it may be a little off.  
Something was terribly off the more I flew a little to the east part of the forest. My senses and instinct told me so. 

I gently landed in a tiny clearing far in the forest and furled my wings tightly behind me. The nature around me was undisturbed with wildlife growing strong and healthy. Yet, there felt like there was an underlining tone to the area.

All of my muscles tensed just standing there, slightly in the open. I quickly padded to the safety of the surrounding forest and used the foliage to my advantage.

Familiar and unfamiliar scents filled my nose just idling there. The unknown ones putting me off even more. I identified them as human odors and growled lowly under my breath. No human should be this far up here and meant only one thing: Jasper was near.

The hairs on my neck stood straight up at the realization of true danger. It has been awhile since I have faced Jasper. With it now become a real thing at this moment, a trickle of fear ran through me. 

Yes, I was somewhat excited in the beginning of this mission. But now, facing the real deal, it was a little scary though, I would never admit that out loud or to anyone. A monster scared to face its abusers, a funny thing to think about.

Far in the distance, my ears caught sounds of vehicles and people talking. Energy flowed inside of me and gave me the courage to follow through with this horrible mission. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and carefully began trotting over to the noises.

My senses were on high alert, searching for anything on the lines of dangerous. 

Out past the trees, in a large clearing, stood a medium sized building with guards crawling all over it. What the…? Data centers like this shouldn’t have this many soldiers surrounding it. What are they doing in here? Or what are they holding here that is so important?

To ensure none saw me or heard me, I ducked behind a fallen tree and observed the actions of the soldiers. All held some sort of rifle in their hands with body gear to protect from both gun fire and someone like me. What caught my attention was the cop car sitting at the front of the building. It gave off a menacing vibe.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t a normal vehicle. The hairs on my neck stood up again the longer I hid here. It was now or never, I guess. 

The scales covering my body changed their color to camouflage with the surrounding foliage. The suit and watch designed by Jacob did their best to follow with the color shift. Once no one could spot me from the corner of their eye, I carefully snuck over to the building.

My feet were making next to no noise over the branch and pine littered ground. I used my wings to add some lift to jump on the roof and padded over to the vent covering. There are sensors on the inside of the vent so the guards would know if someone was breaking in, like me.

Instead of sounding off the alarms, I allowed for ‘fire energy’ to collect in the palm of my hand. Melting away a small hole enough for me to slip past wouldn’t set off the alarms, thankful, and that’s what I did. I carefully crawled into the tiny vent and began trekking through to find the main servers for me to connect my watch to. Once in, there was no reason to continue camouflaging my scales so I allowed my body to be seen again.

For a room to hold many servers, it would have to have a lot vents to circulate the warming air. Jasper was smart on where they placed their bases and who were stationed there. So if I was a server room that needed to be protected at all costs, where would I be…?

In the middle of course. That wasn’t a hard question. They could still have ten vents going to that room, it wouldn’t matter to them. Protecting the data was their main priority.  
I continued to weirdly crawl through the vents with my wings pressed painfully into my back. When the sounds of soldiers in their groups would get close, I was forced to stop until they were  
at a far enough distance. 

This was beginning to take up too much time and my worry of capture was growing. Jasper has the means of taking me down or killing me if need be. That’s why I operate in the shadows to make sure getting capture was a low possibility.

Fans spinning off to the right of my position caught my attention; the fast type and plastic sounding fans to be more specific. I turned down the vent that lead towards the noise and reached the room within a couple minutes.

Guards were stationed on the outside of the room, guns in their hands, ready for an intruder. This made the mission a little bit more dangerous. It didn’t help there were sensors on the vent cover as well.

It was too late to turn back and abandon the mission; turning around in this small of courters was impossible in the first place. A sigh escaped my lips at how much trouble this mission is causing me. 

Wait, I was dumb. 

Heat grew once again in the palm of my hand. I directed the heat a couple of feet from the vent cover and melted a large enough hole for me to slip pass. It took a little bit of time due to the thickness. There are no sensors on the metal tunnels, it would alert at everything, including the air. I landed noiseless and scrambled to hide behind one of the server station. 

Nothing, no alarm or sounds came from the guards. This meant I was in the clear. To be extra cautious, I focused on my surroundings and camouflaged once more. I trotted over to the computer that maintains the servers and plugged my watch into the port. An error appeared on the screen of the computer for less than a second before the coding on the watch override the security.

Perfect. I scanned over any important data that needed to be downloaded first. My eyes caught sight a folder named ‘Decepticons’. What a stupid title. I clicked on it and stared confused at contents. Some of the packets on the inside were written in a strange text. Nothing that looked like known human language. What is Jasper up to?

Since the file seemed important and strange at the same time, it was the first to be downloaded. I sifted through other folders for more valuable information and downloaded some more.  
With the rest downloaded, I disconnected my watch and signed out of the computer. Then the sound of sliding glass doors opening caught my attention. All of the hairs on my neck stood straight up and danger buzzed inside of my head. Uh oh.

My scales were still camouflaged but that didn’t mean they couldn’t still see me. I froze to listen in where their footsteps were and realized this was a dead end. If they found me, they would sound the alarm and injure me enough to haul me back to the main base. Over my dead and bruised body.

Out of nowhere, my watch began to buzz and made a chime noise due to an alert. Crap. Dread boiled in my stomach as the footsteps stopped their tracks. I had to make my move or they would sound the alarm.

I willed sharp icicles to grow in my hands and dashed down the row towards the guards. My talons scraped for traction but pushed me forward nevertheless. 

The two guards appeared in my sights the moment I turned the corner. I skidded to a stop, stared for a moment, before throwing both of the icicles at them. The two guards tired to dodge to the side but weren’t quick enough. The sharp pieces of ice pierced their chests.

Both of them collapsed to the ground a couple of moments of staring at me. The force of the throw was enough for the icicles to poke out from their back.

A huge sigh of relief left my lips. “That was close,” I muttered to myself. But, the mission wasn’t finished; I needed to get out of here without being seen, again. I rushed back over to the vent and climbed back in carefully.

Now for the ever-so exciting part: crawling through dirty and tiny vents to escape. I army crawled my way through the vents once more with half of the mission finished. Until the screeching of an alarm sounded. Double-trouble.

A solid steel sliding door slammed down in front of me. Something instinctively told me to pull in my long tail and I did so. Another steel door closed right where my tail would have been. I growled, angered and in fear of being caught and released a small explosion of heat around me. It was just enough to weaken the metal.

I dropped down from the destroyed vent and surveyed my surroundings. Jasper soldiers weren’t here, yet and would take them less than ten seconds to gather where I was. I leaped into action and began running in the direction of what I thought was the exit. 

Warning bells inside of my head buzzed the more I ran in a certain direction. There was no other option though. This building only had one exit besides the vent but that was sealed off. I pushed my legs even harder towards the exit and heard the sounds of gunfire behind me.

Cold energy sat in my hand, ready to be used at my whim. I raised my arm while running and threw it down and expelled the energy. Ice grew from where the energy hit and created a wall of ice to protect me from the bullets for a small amount of time.

At least twenty soldiers stood, their guns raised pointed in front of them. I slid to a stop the moment after the corner and stared in fear at them. My instincts came to the rescue. 

Water from the pipe lines running throughout the place suddenly burst from the floor and walls. The liquids splashed around like a raging ocean and blocked most of the bullets meant for me. I controlled the water towards the group of soldiers and pushed them against the wall before freezing them to it.

Many screamed in pain or anger and tried their hardest to escape the trap. Others were stuck under the ice, slowly suffocating to their death. Such a pity. As if. I scoffed at their futile attempts and strolled to the outside with my head held high. Power and energy coursed through my veins to the tips of my fingers, wanting to used to their fullest extent.

On the outside of the building was something different than anything that I have faced. I stopped in my tracks and stared up at the twenty foot tall robot. It’s color represent those of the cop car that was sitting in front of the base. My mouth dropped down in fear and shock at it. This was completely the opposite of what Jasper does and works with. They work with changing human DNA, not robots!

The human soldiers fired off their guns. Now I was in a position that gave me complete control over the situation. My wings unfurled from behind my back and took me off of the ground. But, I wasn’t done with those below me.

Energy buzzed inside of me, ready to be released. I formatted the energy to fire and began to create a large ball of fire in my hands. Everyone below, including the robot, started to shoot up at me. My cockiness got the best of me and a handful of the bullets either grazed or pierced my scales. I clenched my jaw as bullets caused a small amount of pain but didn’t stop me from throwing the giant ball of fire down at the ground.

Soldiers scrambled out of the way of the ball but it was the inevitable. The robot took a couple of steps towards the trees while keeping its red eyes locked onto me. On impact, flames went every each way, grabbing onto anything flammable. I took a long moment to stare as well at the robot before taking off in a random direction. 

To be safe, I flew a great amount of miles towards the east coast before landing on top of some tall building. The watch buzzed again, another message coming from Mia. Her message was slightly chaotic, just asking if I was alright. Aztec must have heard about my attack which she heard and is now asking about.

I responded with a quick message of my health and went to search through the new information from Jasper. Most of the folders inside the Decepticon one were strange and unreadable due to the weird language it was written in. The ones written in English are the ones I could read and boy they were disturbing.

What caught my eyes was they have a young girl in their grasp, someone of great importance by the sounds of it. Anger boiled deep inside of me. Whoever the Decepticons are, they are working with Jasper and having a kid captured was nothing good. Hopefully it isn’t too late.

Within the folders gave me the location of where she was. My next mission: saving this young girl from the grasp of Jasper and the Decepticons.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heading off to save this girl from Jasper, but with Azar's luck, she runs into trouble. Fate is against her from the beginning of her life.

Small amounts of pain came from various places on my body and forced me to land on a nearby power pole. An uncomfortable flare sprang from my leg and noticed trickles of blood running down from a bullet sized hole. The adrenaline rush was wearing off and leaving me to feel the leftovers of the latest mission.

A hiss escaped my lips at the sight of the wound. Great, an open wound that I’ll have to deal with now. I closely looked at the hole and saw the shine of something inside of it. By the looks of it, it was the bullet that created the injury. 

The other bullet holes did have an exit. Of course this one had to be the one where the bullet was still inside my leg. Painfully, I stuck my pointer and thumb claws into the hole and dug around for the metal cylinder. My claws clicked against it before gripping it tightly and slowly pulling it out. Blood coated my finger and the bullet, causing my mouth to water in the slightest. Stupid animalistic nature.

Jasper’s symbol was clearly embedded in on the side of the bullet. Could it be a tracker bullet? That was a high possibly which meant I had to get out of here, quickly or they’ll swarm this place. 

I tossed the piece of metal off to the side and inspected the other couple of wounds. None of them had a bullet still inside which was a plus but blood was oozing from them. A small ball of pure water formed in the palm of my hand. I used the contents to clean off the new and old blood surrounding the injuries. The wounds wouldn’t take too long to heal, at most four days since there are multiple of them.

My thoughts wandered to that robot. It seemed like it was… alive and had thoughts. What was Jasper getting themselves up to? They wouldn’t just abandon their decade’s worth of work after getting a small handful of success to move to sentiment robots. Would they? Just thinking about it didn’t made sense on my end. Unless they were working with something much bigger.

Just imagining them moving away from something somewhat success to unknown territory bewildered me. But that robot didn’t seem like your everyday mindless robot. It’s eyes or whatever you would call them made it look like it was thinking, not cold, dead eyes you would see from another one. 

Whatever they were doing was a head scratcher.

Instinctively, my wings unfurled from my back and gave a few powerful pumps to gain height. I continued on my path towards the base where these ‘Decepticons’ were holding a young girl. All I hoped for was to reach her in time before Jasper started their… procedures on her. If I can save at least one kid from their clutches, then I was doing something right.

The watch kept me on track of heading south towards the direction of the base. If I keep the same speed without exerting too much energy, I should reach the building in three hours and a half. To me, it wasn’t fast enough. My top speed for flying could get there within thirty or so minutes but the energy used would make me too weak. 

Exhaustion was already settling in my bones but I didn’t have a choice to stop and rest. I just found someone to save, an easy release, and wasn’t going to sleep until she was safe. No one else needed to be put through what they do to children. Turning us into killing machines and monster.

There would be more of those robots at the mini-Jasper/Decepticon base. Yes, if they were mindless machines, it’s an easy break in and break out for us. But that Copper, just going to call it that, seemed alive and that’s what unnerved me. When it looked at me, it seemed to be thinking! 

Why do my thoughts keep sliding over to that machine? There had to an underlining reason to it. Nothing came from my seventh sense which somewhat ruled out that it was dangerous.

In irritation, my chest rumbled as a growl slowly grew. Was going to the data center a bad idea? Probably. Do I regret the decision? Nope. Using my abilities against evil rather than wasting them to keep them in check was so much better. Plus those soldiers earned it. They chose the wrong side to team up with.

City after city, town after town, boring road after boring road, my watch beeped to let me know I have arrived. My eyes scanned around on the ground for any sign of a building. Nothing but green land and a river a little off in the distance. Was the information wrong? Did my watch bring me to the wrong place?

The folders were only a day old too. So the data wasn’t that old to be wrong.

A noise above me grabbed my attention. The sound of a plane, quiet but still there and sitting high in the sky. The noise was stationary unlike a plane or jet would at least be slowly moving. It also sounded close, like a couple hundred feet away. 

Whatever it was intrigued me. Curiosity killed the cat… but satisfaction brought it back. Danger prickled in my chest at the thought of flying up towards it. Yet, something told me to go through with it. I didn’t have much time to waste with the child’s life on the line.

Hm… The rumbling just hung in the air, as if it was teasing and taunting me. My eyes narrowed to glare at the invisible source of the sound. I forced my wings down harder and changed my direction to upward. 

Something internally told me to do it… Maybe the girl is on a plane. But it didn’t make sense since the rumbling wasn’t moving at all. Even getting closer to it prove so; it was only getting louder, just by a little bit.

I breached a thick layer of clouds and hovered there to scan for anything. Now, the noise was to my ten o’clock position. Yet, there was nothing in sight.

Nothing about this felt like a trap though and I would know, that’s how I have stayed alive and free. I carefully headed in that direction, on edge the more I got closer to it.   
Until the feeling of passing through an electrical field washed over me. My breath was caught my throat from the unfamiliar and sudden feeling. That wasn’t all though, what came after the electrical field would forever change my life.

In front of me floated a beyond massive war ship. It was definitely made of metal with scary edges in the armor and weird red ‘eyes’ in the front of it. What gave me the idea it was a war ship were the large two oversized cannon which protruded from the bow. Hopefully, I would never meet the wrong end of those bad boys.

The watch buzzed once again, dragging my gaze down to it. The end point of the GPS was aiming right at the war ship. Oh shit.

Dread boiled over in the pit of my stomach as all hope of finding this girl went out of the window. Who or what were these Decepticons?! The thought of them being human was starting be ruled out.

This girl was in deeper trouble than I ever would have thought. She’s stuck on a war ship which was floating miles above the ground with an electrical field somehow keeping it from sight. My camouflaging scales aren’t that way but did the same thing, not as affective though. 

If I left her with a chance of saving her in unknown territory, guilt would slowly eat me alive. I had promised myself to finish with this mission. These Decepticon beings seemed just as bad or worse than Jasper and that was no compliment. 

A sigh passed my lips. You’re a dangerous creature, Azar, show them that, a little voice in my head stated. And I will. I pumped my wings down harder and raced towards the ship, ready to save the girl.

My talons quietly clicked against the metal of the top deck. There looked to be a door closer to the inner part of the ship. By it, three robots stood, talking with each other. All of the muscles in my body completely froze at the sight of them. They were acting… sentiment! 

This shouldn’t really be surprising me, I’m standing on a floating war ship. Instinctively, the scales covering my body changed to camouflage. I noiseless snuck over to them and took very carefully placed steps to ensure the least about of sound; couldn’t have my capture be from something stupid.

Once within a hundred feet or so, their conversation could be heard easily. “I can’t believe Megatron is making us check out the breach in the shield. He should be sending one of the drones to do it,” a silver one complained. He, by the sound of the voice, stood around thirty or so feet with two triangle-shaped ‘wings’ sprouting from his shoulders. He kind of was in the shape of a Dorito. 

His other companions looked nearly the same with a couple of small differences. The main differences between the three were their colors. One was mainly purple and black, another was blue and grey with tiny hints of red and white, the last one was just silver.

“At least he isn’t yelling at you. Let’s just get this over with and get on to flying,” the blue robot countered and sounded not-so pleased with having to deal with the silver one. Flying? So I was right about the triangles on their shoulders. It also sounded like a he; he pushed passed Silver towards the middle of the large deck.

“He doesn’t yell at me!” Silver shouted and ran after Blue. Purple had been strangely quiet this entire time. Do these robots have different personalities? 

“He kind of does, Screamer,” Purple spoke up. Then quietly said to himself, “he acts like that saying that the humans have: when pigs fly. Wait, no that doesn’t sound right. Oh well.” After talking to himself, he gave chase after his two buddies. The three continued to bicker and grumbled to one another. I lost interest in them and padded over to the door.

Truth be told, it was an opening but how to activate it? No clue.

The sudden sound of clicking metal and shifting of gears drew my gaze over to where the three robots were. The robots were changing their shape, something I was familiar with. All three of them shifted into jets before blasting off. I stood there in complete shock. Fear trickled in as well, underlining the surprise within. 

What in the hell was that?! 

Shapeshifting is an ability that Jasper is known for as they only have one case that successful. But with them gone, that gave me the opportunity to break in now. There couldn’t be that many robots on this ship, right?

I glanced up and down at the door to find a way to activate. There was no keypad or anything else that interactive. Maybe it wasn’t actually a door and just looked to be one. I unfurled my wings to take off and instead made the entrance open. Well, that worked. It must sense large objects compared to me, a small human with huge wings on her back.

To not waste any more time, I rushed into the ship and furled my wings tightly. The door slid closed and locked me inside of here. 

Sounds of machinery surrounded me on the inside. Nothing else gave me the impression that there was someone else here. See? Only those three. Wait, the silver one did mention someone named Megatron. So four, not that many to deal with if came to the worse.

There was no time to think about that though. I put my tracking skills to the test and quickly started forward, searching for a female scent. The ship seemed to lack any humans, or in general life so finding her shouldn’t be that hard.

Boy did I regret saying that. 

The top floor of the ship didn’t have her, neither did the second. Nearly three hours had been eaten up by searching on those floors. What it did have was nearly endless halls and a handful of other robots that looked almost the same. There was other life in here and it wasn’t friendly.

These halls weren’t helping me either. They all looked the exact same, number of doors were the same, number of intersections were the same. What would’ve been a problem for most actually aided me. The only light the halls provided were tiny bar lights. My eyes adjusted themselves to the lack of light, so no interference in my hunt.

Luck was somehow on my side the first time I encountered a robot. Its foot was raised to go forward the moment I turned the corner. My instincts kicked in and I dodged to the side, my tail barely not getting stepped on. From that moment on, I was much more on edge for anymore of those machines. And there were others as well; five more to be exact. 

They were just strolling around in the halls, acting like they were on patrol. Not for me though, no alarm or indication of any of them spotting me.

Once getting down to the third floor though proved helpful. It had a lot more activity than the other floors but a trickle of a human scent caught my nose. The odor was hard to tell whether or not it was female. 

The scent was old, about three weeks old, and spread out all over the place, probably from the robots walking around. It took some time to figure out that it was a female scent. Score, now I was onto something.

I followed the odor to a door at the end of a long hallway and flashed my wings again. Nothing happened. I did it once more to see if it didn’t notice or see me. Still nothing. Then I noticed next to the door was a key pad a good ten feet from the ground. 

Again, time was short. I willed the palms of my hands to heat up to the melting point of metal and held them up to the door. The metal changed from purple to a blazing orange, a good sign. It started to melt and dribble down to the floor in a puddle.

Now, a large enough hole for me to slip pass was carved into the metal. I step through and scanned the new room for any sign of the girl. Her scent was extremely obvious in here that it almost overwhelmed my senses. 

In here was more like a prison than a normal room and it had five huge cells. Lights were nearly nonexistent and my eyes already dilated to take in more light. 

Off to the right of my entrance was the sound of whimpering and sniffling. Human noises, just what I looking for. I padded over to the farthest right cell and stopped in my tracks at the sight.

A girl was huddled in the corner, obviously shivering. Her clothes were ripped and in no way could they keep her warm. She was just skin and bones by the looks of it with a few cuts and bruises here and there. A thick chain was attached to her ankle and the wall, ensuring she stayed there. Anger boiled deep inside of me and heat rushed back to my hand, wanting to be release. I suppressed the urge to blow this ship out of the sky and began to trot over to her.

The sounds of my talons caught her attention and her head snapped to look up in my direction. She couldn’t see me due to my camouflaged scales. Fear was evident in her eyes as she scanned the area for the source of the noise. I took this opportunity to allow myself to be seen.

Her eyes locked onto my form the moment after. Fear turned to terror. A pang of hurt sprung up in me but I brushed it off and focused on her. She scrambled more into her corner and caused the chain to rattle slightly. I needed to calm her down before she attracted attention, the wrong kind. “Hey-hey-hey,” I started, my voice soft. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to get you out of here.”

She slowly stopped her moments, yet distrust was written all over her face. “Just trust me alright. Don’t make any noises, please. Those stupid robots might hear.” Her muscles were still tense but I needed to hurry this up. I timidly stepped towards her. Nothing. Another step. Nothing. 

Once ten feet away from her, she shook her head to tell me to stop and tried to verbally say that. The only thing that came out was a hoarse choke. I cringed and willed a ball of water to grow in the palm of my hand. If her eyes could’ve, they would have grown even more. She started to freak out and created some noise. “Wait! No-no-no, it’s fine, it’s fine. I can create water, no big deal. I was going to offer you some to help your throat.”

The poor thing looked like she hadn’t eaten in days and was barely receiving water. My words calmed her down slightly. She gazed upon the water thirstily and licked her dry lips. I controlled the water to float over to her until it was about to touch her lips. Her eyes met mine, thinking about trusting me or not.

Until her thirst won her over. The kid swallowed the ball of water in four big gulps and stared at me with gratitude. “Th-“ she cleared her throat painfully- “th-than-k y-you.” I dipped my head.

“Of course. I can help break you out of the chain, but you need to stay silent. If one of those robots heard you, trouble would arise from it.” No noise came from her as my words rolled around inside of her head.

“H-How are-“ a cough interrupted her sentence- “you go-ing to brea-k m-e out? The met-al is r-ea-lly str-ong.”

“Just like water, I can create heat. I’m going to melt away the chain but you have to stay completely still or I could accidently burn you,” I stated firmly and stared into her eyes to emphasize the seriousness of my plan. The kid didn’t say anything for a couple of seconds before nodding her head as a silent go ahead. 

I summoned heat to pool in my hands the third time today and directed it towards the thick band around her ankle. Luckily, I had enough energy to do so. The most I used my powers, the more I grow tired. This time, the energy was being fueled by anger of her situation. Her gaze was glued to the glowing and warming metal.

Once the top part of the band was a fiery orange, I gripped the sides of it and pulled with all of my strength. It easily came apart with enough room for her to slip her clearly bruised leg out. The girl inspected her leg and winced once seeing the full damage. There was a small cut the top of the band cutting into the unprotected skin.

More rage flared up inside of me seeing the terrible injury. I gently scooped her off of the ground without another thought and began to carry her out here. My mission had been finished. Or so I thought.

“W-ait! We c-an’t leave wi-thou-t Sunny,” she exclaimed and wiggled in my grasped. I clutched tighter to ensure she didn’t fall and stopped right before the melted hole. Who names their child ‘

'Sunny’? Is the boy very cheery or something? 

“Whoa, kid. We’ll go get him. Where is he?” I didn’t know Jasper and the Decepticons had another human with them.

“He’s t-he roo-m over, I thin-k.” Since this room was the last one in this hall, it had to be the one to the left. Hopefully the kid could walk on his own because my hands were a little full with… I forgot to ask her for her name.

“Hey, kid, what’s your name?” I quickened my pace towards the cell block next door and stood in front of the unmoving slab of metal. “I have to set you down for this.” I had her rest most of her weight against the door and willed heat once more to grow in my hands.

The kid tried to speak but her voice got caught in her throat and she coughed hard. I stopped halfway through to give her some water to sip on before continuing. This was getting tedious with all this melting of metal. “My n-ame is Annabelle bu-t you can call me An-na, if you wan-t.” Her voice was a little bit smoother than before. “Wha-t’s yours?”

Was it smart to give her my real name? Did it matter? Not really since she was only like six or seven but better safe than sorry. “Mine’s Midnight, like the time of night.” It wasn’t a scary or threatening name like the one Jasper gave me but still was nowhere near my real name.

For some odd reason, my fake name intrigued her and her eyes sparkled. “Cool. I wis-hed I had a c-ool name like t-ha-t.” Little did she know, it wasn’t my real title.

Somewhat silence overtook us and I focused on melting the metal away. This type of metal was very dense and hard to get through but nevertheless it was working.

I got rid the rest of the liquid metal and helped Anna into the room to find this Sunny person. My eyes lied upon a large silhouette with two glowing blue eyes. You got to be kidding me. “That’s not a human!” I nearly shouted at the kid, my anger getting the best of me.

Anna shrunk down in fear from my sudden outburst but couldn’t do much to get away. Seeing her afraid caused regret to immediately spring up internally then I composed myself. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I thought you were talking about a human. Not one of those… things.” 

The robot sounded like it growled at me and its glowing eyes narrowed down at me. The action wasn’t scary in the least. “Sun-ny is-n’t a thing. He’s an Au-tobo-t. He go-t c-ap-tured be-cause of me and I’m no-t leaving wit-hou-t him,” she stated firmly and crossed her arms. “If you t-ry t-o move me wit-hou-t t-aking him wit-h us, I’ll… I’ll, I’ll scream and aler-t the Cons.”

Did I want to deal with a screaming child? No. Did I want to escape with a robot named Sunny? Not at all but my hand was being forced. “Fine, kid, whatever will make you happy.” I trudged over to the thing, eyes locked on to… him in case he tried anything.

The two of us got within twenty when he snarled, “don’t you come any closer meatbag!” Did he seriously call me ‘meatbag’? Yeah, let’s go tin can. A glare was sent his way.

“Su-nny, she’s going t-o hel-p us! Jus-t t-rust her, she’s cool,” Anna tried to reason with the overgrown toaster. He must have a scowl etched into his metal face by the look he was giving me. “Please, for me.”

Her puppy eyes broke through his hard exterior. “Alright! Just stop giving me those optics. You’re almost as bad as Sides,” he grumbled and weakly stood to his wheeled feet. A blue substance was running like blood from various places and had pooled under him.

This is where my help came in. I summoned more heat to my hands and directed it at the glowing bars trapping the robot in; or whatever Anna calmed him. The bar repelled the heat with electric sparks exploding. Okay, bad idea.

“Of course that wouldn’t work. Go for the keypad,” Sunny snickered and crossed his arms, pain passed over his features but washed away a moment after. I quietly mocked him and aimed a ball of fire up at the glowing keypad off to the side. My hands were starting to tingle at this point from the usage of my powers. The thing sparked then the bars disappeared and freed Sunny. He strolled out and tried to hide the pain he surely felt.

He semi-limped over to Anna and sat down on his haunches. “Are you okay? Whose face plates do I need to rearrange?” The robot was trying to make light for the young girl, sweet. 

Anna giggled, “no-t really bu-t Midnigh-t broke me ou-t. She’s pre-tty cool even though she’s differen-t.” Those words. I slightly cringed at those words and felt a pang of hurt strike my heart. 

“I can hear you,” I hissed, anger once again rising up in me. “We need to keep going before-.” The door slid open and revealed two identical purple and black robots, the ones that were patrolling before. “-That.” I reacted immediately by summoning two large icicles and chucked them as hard as possible.

Neither bot was prepared or ready for the ice heading their way and stood there stupidly. The shards pierced their intended target with great accuracy: in the middle of their chests. They crumpled to the ground a couple of seconds later. “Bad, very bad. Alright, you two get a moving. I’ll pick up the rear. Head towards the top of this stupid ship,” I ordered and motioned them to hurry along with my hands.

Thankfully, the yellow robot didn’t complain against my orders and scooped the child into his grasp. The poor thing could barely walk more than five steps anyhow. “Don’t take this as I’m listening to you fleshie. That was my plan, first off,” he snapped before making his out of the room, the child still in his hand. Wow, someone is on their robot period because he is pissy.

I rolled my eyes to brush off his ‘rude’ comment and gave chase after them by flight. If the kid wasn’t adamant on taking him with us, the bot would be melted down into a puddle for the way he was speaking to me. Be nice, there’s no need to be so denfensive, Mia’s words echoed inside of my head.

The three of us somehow ‘snuck’ our way through the halls without being caught. What I mean by ‘snuck’ is a giant limping robot, slowly making his grinding way towards the exit. 

All the hairs on my neck prickled up then, “halt!” a voice shouted from behind us. I whipped around to face five patrol bot’s in a fighting stance with their arm guns pointed at us.

Sunny growled and threw down his free hand as if something was supposed to happen. Nothing did. His anger grew but he knew that he wasn’t in shape to fight off these Cons. That’s what his stance and eyes told me, and it was understandable. “I got this, keep going. And get that girl out of here and keep her safe,” I commanded and cold energy flowed to my hands.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him nod with a minuscule hint of respect flaring in his eyes. It was gone quicker than it appeared. He and Anna turned to leave the scene. “Stop, you Autoscum!” the same bot shouted.

“Oh, would you shut up?!” I scoffed and sent a spray of small dagger shaped icicles in their direction with a flick of my wrist. It was getting harder to use my powers now. All five saw the incoming threat and dodged to the best of their abilities. Three of them weren’t so lucky and the ice slipped between the cracks in their armor. The other two sent shots towards me and the retreating forms behind me.

To ensure the shots wouldn’t hit them, a wall ice grew to block anymore attempts. One red plasma bullet knocked into my wing and cause pain to arise from the new wound. It was more of a burning sensation than anything else. I turned to face them after inspecting it with a sadistic smile on my lips. “Boy, you just f-ed up.” 

Frost hung in the air as the temperature suddenly plummeted. The robots wildly looked around in confusion and slight fear. Perfect.

More icicles grew in my hands, long and sharp enough to pierce metal. I charged towards the nearest bot and drove the shard into his chest. The same blue substance splattered from the somewhat plugged hole. What was it? 

The other four stared at me in shock of my actions. “There’s more where that came from.” My energy was depleting quickly, I could feel it but the mission was far from over. This morning didn’t help and the more I used my abilities, the more my energy was used.

I finished swiftly with the others before making my way towards the fleeing two. The two extra appendages on my back were dragging slight from fatigue. They were just making it to an elevator when a loud alarm sounded off. This just added to my plate of trouble.

“T-ha-t’s no-t good, is i-t?” Anna questioned, scared in her little spot curled up to the chest of Sunny.

“It’ll add some trouble but nothing I can’t handle,” I promised and smiled reassuringly to hide my growing exhaustion. “Just keep going, I’ll meet you on the roof top if we get spilt.” We all filtered into the elevator and allowed for it to take us up. 

Again with luck, it was being plentiful today. We reached the top deck in little under a minute but were greeted with rows and rows of those patrolling bots. How many are there of these things? “How are we going to deal with that many Cons?” Sunny growled, angered of the situation.

“Magic,” I answered cheekily. “Now, jump off and I’ll catch you both.”

Sunny sputtered in bewilderment from my order. “Are you serious?! Like Pit I will! You’re not even half my size. And you’re tiny wings could never hold my weight.” Excuse you, my wingspan is longer than your height.

“That my friend is where magic comes into play. You can go right ahead and stay here but the kid comes with me. Jump or stay. Your choice,” I responded. My next play of action wasn’t going to be a very smart or ideal one but it was the best for the moment. We were cornered and surrounded by sentient robots with guns pointed right at us.

What my plan consisted would take a huge amount of energy, I had just enough to do it. Let’s not even count the overwhelming pain that would definitely be created because of it. My main mission was to save the kid but that changed and the grumpy tin can needed to be saved as well. Oh, how my life has taken a turn.

His eyes gazed down at Anna who was staring fearfully at the army of robots in front of her. Sunny acted like he was thinking about his short list of options before coming to a conclusion. “I’ll jump but if you don’t catch us, I’ll tear you atom from atom,” he threatened as if he was scary. 

“Perfect. Now… Run!” I shouted and threw down a wall of ice to block us from the firing squad. Sunny skated to the best of his weakened state over to the side before launching Anna and himself off the war ship. The young girls screams pierced the darkening sky as the two of them fell together. I was right behind them to reassure of my quick plan.

The one ton bot fell quickly towards the ground while clutching the beyond terrified girl. There was limited time to act.

I thought quickly of the size and creature I wanted to shapeshift into. My body started the painfully process and multiplying my atoms to grow my size to dwarf Sunny. Every atom was being torn apart then stuck together just to repeat the whole thing again. I couldn’t help the grunt of pain that escaped my lips half way through the shift. I didn’t have much time either to maul over the details of this form. 

From above us, I heard the sound of jets taking off and heading in our direction. Hurry up! A swift minute passed and it was finished. The shift nearly took every ounce of energy I had left. My eyes snapped open and everything looked different but the same in this form. I locked my gaze onto the yellow bot and wrapped my front claws around his torso. His body tensed at the sudden contact. 

“What in the Pit are you?” he grounded out but made no move to escape my hold. If he did, the sudden stop of the fall would surely kill him and Anna. In this form, I hadn’t taken the time to form my vocal cords to speak and let the whipping wind answer him.

The jets sounded closer. What I did take time to form was the ability to camouflage my scales to hide us from the onslaught from above. Anyone below would be able to see the floating robot. Anyone above us wouldn’t notice anything out of place.

Instead of allowing miles of room for the jets to fly underneath us, I took a nosedive and headed north to look for a place to hide out in. Staying in this form for too much long wouldn’t be an option on the table.


	3. Chapter 3

This form was growing more and more uncomfortable the longer I flew; yet we weren’t at a safe enough distance from the ship. The rumbling from the robot jets could still be heard miles away. They were expanding their circle of search which meant I had to continue flying.

Wind whipped around us as a storm began to slowly brew. The humidity increasing with rain threatening to fall. Dirty water seeping into my open wounds was a no thank you from me.

Off in the distance, a rundown building appeared. My body ached at just the thought of continuing for that far of a stretch. Come on, just a little bit longer. I forced my wings to down stroke a few extra times and quickened the pace. You couldn’t rush perfection but screw that, everything hurt to move, including the membrane on my wing. That plasma shot hurt!

There are houses that had people in them nearby the building so we had to be careful. A homeless person or stupid kids could also be there, adding more on to my plate than I could handle. Go save this damsel in distress, they said. It would be fun, they said. They forgot to mention she wouldn’t leave behind a grumpy tin can that weighed a ton, literally.

The mission was meant to be an in and out plan not grab the over grown toaster who unable to defend himself. My first solo mission and everything went to crap. Yes, I did save two beings instead of one but getting spotted and nearly captured wasn’t part of the plan at all. If this does go onto Jasper records, Mia is going to hear about this. She’s going to lose her marbles, big time.

My landing was rough as I dropped the robot a few feet off the ground and crumpled to the floor in extreme agony. A roar/cry rippled from my throat as my body forced itself to shift back to its normal state, painfully.

Both Anna and Sunny stood there, off to the side, and watched the process. My body twitched as bones snapped and muscles ripped until the finally piece was put back into place. I stumbled to my feet and unashamed, stared up at the two. “What?” I hoarse questioned before strolling over to the door, hiding the small limp from the wound in my leg.

Pain still flooded my systems but I had to act like nothing happened. “That’s all you’re going to say after that?” Sunny asked in bewilderment. He didn’t get a reaction from me. I took another step then my legs gave out from under me.

Tears threatened to fall. Anna’s tiny footsteps could be heard timidly making their way over to me. “Midnigh-t, are you o-kay?” Was I fine? No, I needed to sleep and eat something in the morning to regain some of my lost energy.

I put on a fake smile to reassure the kid that I was okay. “Yeah, just dizzy.” That wasn’t a lie; my head felt like I was swimming with the fishes. “Give me a moment. You two can head in and check it out.” She gazed back up to the iron giant and received a shrug.

“Well, alrigh-t. If you need help, jus-t call ou-t t-to us.” With that, she and the tin can left me for the falling apart building. Sunny easily opened the ten foot tall metal doors and let themselves in. I stayed on my hands and knees to gather myself and let a couple of tears drop. No one was around to see me cry, the two were already inside.

Bile rose in my throat as the dizziness didn’t disappear. I attempted to stop the inevitable. Whatever was left over in my stomach from yesterday spilled onto the ground. I gritted my teeth as most of it was just stomach acid and burned my throat. Oh, what my life has become.

Even after puking, it didn’t help me once-of-ever. I shakily stood and stumbled over to the building. By the look of it, there have been people here from graffiti on the walls to soda cans and other garbage thrown about. Anna and Sunny had made the left corner furthest from the door their temporary home. The poor girl was shivering from fall’s cold nights.

A groan came from me; I knew what I had to do to keep the kid from freezing.

Off in the right corner closest to the door was a pile of broken wood. Perfect. I carried most of the wood over to the two of them and collapsed on my knees. Most of my energy was gone, depleted due to today’s activities. I had barely enough to start a spark for a fire.

Both the human and machine stared at me in confusion. I ignored them and fought through the exhaustion settling in my bones. My job wasn’t done just yet.

Three sparks appeared in my hand after focusing but they died off quicker than I could move. I growled lowly at the rising irritation and let that fuel the need for fire. A tiny fire flickered to life in my hands. I dropped it into the middle of the wood and hoped that was all.

The fire almost died out from the lost of its fuel but attached itself to the wood. With its new fuel source, flames grew in size and produced more heat. Anna glanced at her giant friend before scooting over to the heat source.

Her shivering began to slowly become unnoticeable the longer she stayed closer the fire. “Th-thank you,” she expressed gratitude towards me. Unlike me, a blush grew on my cheeks. I hid it by turning my face to the side. My brain raked for the last time someone had thanked me. 

No one.

“Yeah, whatever,” I mumbled and fell roughly onto my back. Everything, and I mean everything, hurt, including breathing. 

Moments of silence embraced me. It was wonderful. “So, are we going to discuss about the situation or what?” Sunny spoke up and broke the soothing silence. I rolled my eyes then allowed them to close and crossed my arms sternly.

“No.” My answer was short and sweet, just the way I liked it.

Sunny shifted a little in his spot and caused his gears to screech and grind. That was going to get annoying real soon. “I say we do. First off: what in the pit are you?” he tried to start a twenty questions game. Little did he know, he wouldn’t get that answer. At least not tonight.

“We’ll talk in the morning. I’m in extreme pain and discomfort. Also I saved both of you, I think I earn a night of rest,” I grounded out and opened an eye to glare at them. The yellow robot wanted to say something else but the young girl stopped him.

“Yeah, that’s fine. You definitely do,” she answered and gave Sunny a look for him to back off. I hummed and allowed myself to easily drift off into sleep.

Whispered arguing could be heard the moment I woke up. Pain flared up throughout my entire body without having to move. I grumbled incoherent curse words under my breath and sat up to face the dreaded morning.

Sunlight bled through the broken walls and ceilings. Hours old smoke hung lowly to the ground and stuck to my clothing. I slid my gaze over to the noise and lightly glared at the two who woke me up.

Anna gave me a nervous yet sweet smile. “Morning, Midnight,” she greeted and tried to act they weren’t up to anything. If it didn’t concern me, what’s the point of putting my nose in where it didn’t belong. I ignored her strange behavior and groggily got to my feet. “Did, uh, did you sleep well?” Why is she asking me that?

I raised a questioning eyebrow at her and begun stretching almost every muscle. “Yeah, I guess. As much you can while sleeping on concrete. And you?” I threw back in a lazy attempt to make small talk. 

Why not? The kid was only like six or seven and didn’t ask to be captured by Jasper and the Decepticons. There’s no reason for me to act nasty towards her. The giant tin can on the other hand. He deserved any rude comments. “Pretty good. Better than… you know. The fire helped a lot too.” I dipped my head and observed our surroundings truly this time.

Nothing seemed to be out of place. No new human scents, a plus. No cameras. This place was definitely abandoned, that was for sure.

“Since you’re up, we can have our discussion. What are you?” Sunny hostilely started and tried to get to his wheeled feet. His injuries were too severe to move and forced him back down on the ground. Anna cringed at the sound of grinding gears and sorrowfully gazed at him. The girl showed her concern for him outwardly. Why though? Is he not just a machine?

“We’re in the same boat then.” His metal eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. For a being made of complete metal, he can sure show emotion like a human. “I don’t know what I am. What title or species name a scientist would give me. But for the time being, I just named my new species draconic. Now, my turn. What are you?” 

Anna turned to give me the same saddened expression she gave Sunny. I ignored her though and didn’t accept her pity.

“A Cybertronian. Or what your kind calls us, aliens.” Aliens? Aliens. Seemed like the truth. Humans didn’t have that kind of technology yet for robotics. Which meant those others were aliens. Of course the government wouldn’t say anything or that would cause a panic worldwide. “How did you know where to find us? How do you know of the Decepticons?”

“A friend of mine from Aztec directed me to a Jasper base.” At the mention of Jasper, his ‘eyes’ narrowed. “I stole some data and find out about these ‘Decepticon’ fellows. I looked through the data and saw they had kidnapped a young girl. Knowing Jaspers reputation of abusing and killing kids, I went to save her. I had no clue who the Decepticons were or that you were there. But Anna made me save you and here we are,” I gave the simple version of yesterday’s events before meeting the two of them.

His oh-so scary and threatening glare only deepened. “Do you work with Jasper?” A fresh wave of anger rushed through me. How dare he-!?

“No!” I snarled and was on the verge of lunging at him. “I want to tear every single human who sides with Jasper apart, slowly and painfully.” Then I realized there was a kid present and calmed myself down immediately. “I mean, I despise every single one of them with a passion. What about you? Who do you work with or for?”

Sunny stayed quiet for a moment, looking like he contemplating whether or not to answer me. “You already know of the Decepticons. What about the Autobots?” The name had appeared once or twice in the folders. Which reminds me…

I glance down at my watch and did a double take. It was gone! My eyes scanned the floor of the entire building and came up empty-handed. Where did it go?! Wait. The shift. It was quick and a large animal. The band of the watch can grow to an extent to fit most animal’s size. Unless I do it too fast and it won’t have enough time to grow with me. Mia is going to go beyond crazy is she doesn’t get an update. “What are you freaking out about for?”

The watch was my only remote connection to Aztec, my only way to get information. “My watch. I lost it. It held all the information I gathered now it’s gone. And I do know the name of the Autobots but only because it was mixed in with the Decepticons information,” I answered and pinched at the bridge of my nose. Today wasn’t going to be a good day, at all.

“Does that mean you’ll help me get back to my daddy?” Anna questioned with hope growing in her voice. It didn’t entirely surprise me that she had someone to go back to. My first plan of action was to set up a meeting place with Mia and drop off the kid with her. Aztec will take care of her and her family, I’m just doing the dirty work.

“Yeah, kid. Where is he? Give me a state.” Tracking was a specialty of mine. I had a great sense of direction and had an idea of where each state sat.

“Colville, Washington. He also works with the Autobots, like Sunny here.” Are you kidding me?! The furthest state away from us is where her father is. And he works with the Autobots. Is he an alien as well or something? “I miss him.” Sorrow filled her tone of voice completely. Poor kid. That pulled at the heart strings even more.

Sunny must have seen the confusion on my face. “The government. We work with your human government,” he clarified. My eyes widened. 

You got to be kidding! “The government. Bad choice. Also, I don’t know kid. They don’t like people like me,” I retaliated and took a couple of steps back.

Anna sprung to her feet. “But me and Sunny would protect you, right Sun?” Her eyes glanced up at said name with hope in them. “You saved us and we’ll protect you. No one messes with Sunny or Sides,” Anna promised.

“Whose Sides? And is your name actually Sunny because I’m getting the feeling it’s a nickname,” I questioned and sat down on the cold concrete. 

Neither of them spoke and Sunny’s attitude seemed to worse more than it already was. “Sideswipe is my twin brother who I haven’t seen… or felt in the past month. And my name isn’t Sunny. If you ever call me Sunny again, I won’t be afraid to squish you under my pede.” So the alien has a twin brother named Sideswipe who he can ‘feel’ or something on that lines. Also doesn’t like to be called Sunny by me at least.

“So what is your name?”

“Sunstreaker. You?”

“Midnight.” The same fake name I gave Annabelle. “So, you work with the government. Can’t you call them or something to come pick you and the kid up?”

“My communications system was badly damage. I would’ve already done that so I wouldn’t have to mingle with a human,” he grounded out. I rolled my eyes at him.

“Half human,” I corrected then stood back up, something felt off. Danger buzzed lowly, barely there but still enough to alert me. 

“What?”

“I’m half human, half dragon with a tiny dose of other creatures that I don’t know of. That’s why I named my species draconic. I resemble a dragon, do I not? Let’s put this conversation on hold. I can feel something amiss. I’ll be back.” Without giving them room to say anything else, I took to the skies and headed in a random direction. My muscles ached at the sudden movement.

Whatever it was quieted down, so this was the wrong direction to go. I turned a little to left for a fly around the building to test out where it was coming from. The building wasn’t entirely far from the war ship but it was as far as my battered body could take us. It was better than nothing, is it not?

That spot on my wing still stung. You couldn’t tell whether or not it was bruise since the membrane was already a dark color, lingering on the border of black and navy blue. Thankfully, there wasn’t any sign of swelling which could mean a popped vein. 

The feeling grew in the direction where we fled from. I decided not to risk accidently getting seen by anymore Decepticons and headed back to the building. 

Anna and Sunstreaker were having a discussion about their plan of action when I landed. A smile graced her lips and she bounded over to me, yet worried could be seen bubbling in her eyes. “Is everything alright?”

“Yes and no. Those Decepticons are still hunting around for us. To err on the side of caution we need to move further away from them,” I answered and turned my gaze over to Sunny. “Can you walk well enough for a few miles?”

He was resting his back against one of the metal supports. That same blue substance dripped down from a couple of random spots on his body and pooled below him. “Yes, I can. I’m not as weak as your kind,” he bit back. I rolled my eyes for the fifth time this day and motioned for them to get move along. He struggled to his wheeled feet but somehow did it. His kind must be more resilient to pain than I thought. Did they even feel pain? Feel anything in general?

That I did not know. It didn’t matter though. We can have that conversation for another day.   
Without my watch, I was a bit lost on which roads to take. For direction, I knew we had to at least head northwest since we were around Georgia or Florida. Now, traveling with a bright yellow, grumpy, loud, alien robot wasn’t going to be fun once-oh ever. 

Sunstreaker scooped the young girl into his grasp and took front of the pack. With him slowly making his way down this road, flying would cost me too much energy of just hovering. I picked up the rear and kept my head on a swivel, including watching the skies. Those robots could shift into jets, could he as well? Wouldn’t he already done so, so we aren’t having to walk all the way to Washington?

“Hey, Sunstreaker. Can’t you shift into a jet like those Decepticons? It would make this trip so much easier,” I called out.

“No, I’m not a seeker.” Wow, he was acting a little bit more civil towards me.

“What do you ‘transform’ into? Can you still transform though?” I caught onto the words he was using.

“An Lamborghini Aventador S. No, I can’t. My hip gear is out of place.” I hummed to appreciate his choice of a Lamborghini.

“Maybe further along, I help fix your hip thingy.” We fell back into silence as we cut through a forest. Sunstreaker was having some trouble going through some of the trees and would have to take another route, adding more time that we didn’t have.


	4. Chapter 4

The robot stumbled over his own wheels for the fourth time on the second day of our travel. His condition seemed to slowly worsening the more we traveled. I did feel a tiny spark of pity for him but I brushed it off quickly. Did we have choice on stopping? No. Those other robots are still on the hunt for us. We couldn’t risk capture just because the bot was having trouble staying on his feet.

That thought was thrown out the window the next second.

This time though, Sunstreaker fell into a tree which easily broke under his weight. He luckily protected the already injured child in his grasp by landing on his free hand. A grunt sounded from him. The yellow tin can eased Anna onto the ground before collapsing on his side. “Sunny!” The girl limped over to his face and held his large cheeks in her hands. “Are you okay?”  
If she wasn’t an injured seven year old, I would have gave a sarcastic comment of his health. With her being around, I had to watch my tongue and filter my words. Younglings pick up what others say around them.

Sunstreaker didn’t say anything for the longest moment and made me believe he had died. “Yes, I will be, Anna. I need to rest for a little bit,” he answered and maneuvered onto his back.

This gave me an idea though. “We’ll rest for the rest of the day until dawn then head out. This will give me time to gather supplies for us. Anna, you’re leg needs to be cleaned thoroughly and wrapped.” It was worsening the longer we traveled. “We’re both in need of food and water that gives electrolytes. I’m going to head out now for a quick trip. Sunstreaker, keep the kid safe,” I explained my plan and ensured the robot knew his part.

His eyes narrowed down at me but he was too weak to do anything to me. I launched myself into the air but was stopped by the girl. “Wait, Midnight! What happens if the Decepticons attack while you’re gone?” She was definitely scared of those nasty robots.

“Run, run as far as your legs can take you.” This just caused the fear in her eyes to tenfold. Whoops. 

With that said and done, I headed off towards the buildings off in the distance. There was hopefully a chained grocery store like Yokes or Wal-Mart.

No sense of danger came to me the further I flew from the two. It had been only two days from the beginning of our long and tiring trip. Sunstreaker and I had taken small breaks along the way and had barely made it twenty miles from the abandon building. It didn’t mean we were safe though. At any turn, Jasper or those Decepticons could be waiting for us.

Two days of walking was nothing though. If I calculated this right, it would take us a good twenty-eight days, at least, to reach Washington. That didn’t included stops/rests or the fact I was forced to travel with a severely injured robot that could barely walk! 

None of this will end well for me.  
Small buildings appeared over the last tall tree and stretched over a couple miles of land. I searched from the sky for any sign of a chain store since this town was on the large side. It was bound to have some sort of grocery store.

A blue sign with the words ‘Wal-mart’ stuck out of the ground near an oversized brick building. Perfect. I camouflaged my scales to become invisible to these pathetic and lazy humans. My talons noiseless touched the concrete a few feet away from the entrance. People were filtering in and out of here with carts full junk food and other supplies. Disgusting.

If anyone really paid attention to the ground, they would notice the strange shadow of something humanlike but not human. To my favor, everyone was trying to get in and out without much trouble.

I swiftly trotted into the store and slipped past the large amount of people in here. Odors overwhelmed me instantly and a headache rose from it. My ability to track nearly dead scents was a curse and blessing at the same time. Like a dog, the part of my brain that controls processing of scents was huge, larger than human and just a bit bigger than a dog.

No one suspected a draconic to be wandering around in search for supplies. This trip had to be quick and simple with no complications.  
The things needed consisted of: meat and lots of it, vegetables’, kid clothes, maybe a blanket, and medical supplies. I first headed over to the deli side of the store and scanned over what they had. 

None of it was entirely what I needed to replenish my lost energy as it had chemicals put in the animals themselves. A normal calorie intake for me is about five to six thousand a day. I choose four massive Styrofoam plates of steak and used my wings to hide them. A human glanced in my direction in confusion but brushed it off and went back to their phone. Smart.

One thing down, four more things to get. 

For the vegetable’s, I got some peas, broccoli, carrots, and green onions for the kid and I to share. Anna might not like it but she didn’t have a choice from me. Those are health foods and will help her heal. She needed it with her leg being infected for the past two days. 

Unlike me, I couldn’t use the venom in my teeth to cleanse the wound. That would just cause more injury to her leg. That reminds me. The bullet holes littering my body were healing nicely with barely any sign of them. Surprising they were already healed that much due to me shifting into a giant dragon.

Back to getting supplies. Anna didn’t seem too big for kid clothes and it didn’t matter if it was pretty or nice looking. I grabbed a camouflaged matching shirt and pants with a thick, black jacket to keep her warm during the nights. That’s the reason I wanted to get her a blanket but my time here was becoming too long.

Lastly, I rushed over to the medical side of the building and scanned through what they had. First off, one of those pads that are used to cover the wound. Second, gauze to dress the wound properly and secure the bandage into place. Last of all, antibiotic ointment to keep it clean.

With everything in hand with a little trouble, I swiftly made my way to the front doors and dropped most of it into a basket. The sudden appearance of supplies to the unsuspecting customers and employees surprised and bewildered them. I didn’t pay them much attention anyhow and snatched the basket to take off.

Those scanners at the doors beeped loudly the moment I past them. I revealed myself to the humans around me as sneaking out was no longer an option. Customers scattered to get away from me barreling out of the store with a basket full. The employees gave chase but back tracked when they saw my form. 

My wings pumped hard to get away from here as quick as possible. I soared higher and higher into the darkening sky and leveled out a good few thousand feet off the ground. The basket in hand disrupted the flow of wind running over my scales and slowed me down some.

I realized this was the wrong direction and turned towards where the girl and robot were. Still no sign of danger or anything amiss. At this moment, the tension should have been released in my shoulders. But with nothing wrong happening, it made me feel more unease. Were the Decepticons or Jasper tracking us? Waiting for the perfect moment to attack? Yet, we were at our weakest. They have the perfect time to attack anytime.

Most of my life consisted of fighting or fleeing or some sort of action. Yes, we were fleeing but with no threat right on our tail. It felt… peaceful, yet at the same time, dread and unease grew in my stomach.

Anxious to get back to the two, I pumped my wings harder and drew away from the reality of this calm moment. The thought of them not there caused not the kindest of ideas to spring in my mind. What was this? 

When you have no connection to humanity or others, you become lonely as well. Lonely? Forcefully so.

If I didn’t leave, my friends and family would be dead because of me. This war between Jasper and Aztec was far from done. Fighting over one thing: me.

Before I knew it, the location of our new temporary base came into sights. Jeez, I needed to snap out of it. They were going to leave you in the end. Her father works with the government, probably military, and the Autobot’s. The government and I don’t mix, just like water and oil. You could say they were almost as bad as Jasper.

Sunstreaker had moved from his previous position to rest against a strong enough tree. Anna also changed her last spot to his shoulder and had snuggled up to his exposed neck. With the sun below the horizon, she must be cold and was using him to warm up.

The sound of my nearly silent wings caught the yellow robots attention. His blue glowing eyes locked onto mine and he followed me with his gaze to the ground. The kid didn’t stir from her spot and worry grew slightly inside of me. “She’s not doing good. Shivering and too warm for a human,” he announced. 

Shivering and warm in forty degrees weather, not good. The infection in her leg must have caused her to have a fever. Her condition not good for a seven year old who was malnourished. “Let me see her. I got some supplies to wrap her leg and clean it,” I ordered firmly and set down the basket to dig through it.

This is where the antibiotic ointment would come into hand and clean water. Luckily for the two of us, I can create pure water.

He picked the girl up and set her down in front of him as his range of reaching was short. I rushed over to her and immediately got to work with washing the wound out. Tiny whimpers and groan came from Anna but her body didn’t let her wake. Probably for the best. She needed her rest and sleep.

The ointment would sting worse than me running fresh water on the cut. I put a decent amount of it on my fingers and eased it onto the wound. Anna’s eyes snapped open as pain flooded through her. She reached to stop me from continuing but my wings pushed her back to lie flat once more. “Wait, stop! It stings,” she cried clawed at my scales.

From above us, Sunstreaker went to aid his friend. “Don’t, Sunstreaker. This cream is killing the bacteria and infection. It’s painful, especially with an infection this bad but it has to be done. She could die if not treated,” I grounded out and continued working.

Gladly, the tin can backed off and returned to his position. Smart.

After deeming the wound covered and cleaned thoroughly, I placed the gauze on it and wrapped it securely. Anna wouldn’t be able to walk for awhile with her leg in that condition but tomorrow we needed to continue. 

Tears poured down her cheeks. I pitied the young girl and let her go. Anna lied there, heavy breathes cause her chest to rise and fall noticeably. “Ow,” she finally said and sat up. She checked over the wrap and gazed up at me. “Thank you, again.”

Again with thank me. A light blush covered my cheeks. I rose to my talons and turned away to hide it from the two of them. “Anytime, kid. Now, I brought some food for us to eat. Stay here and stay off of your leg, okay?”

She giggled. “You sound like Ratchet.” I raised an eyebrow in confusion at her words then strolled over to the basket overflowing with supplies. 

A few things were strewn about from my frantic search. I carried the basket over to where she sat and set it down. Her eyes scanned over the supplies. “Wow, that’s a lot of meat. Are those vegetables? Ew. Hey, did you get anything for Sunny?” Why would I? What would an alien need from a chain grocery store?

“No,” I simply stated and pulled out all the food in there. Anna stuck her tongue out in disgust at the sight of the vegetables but realized what I had said. Her brows furrowed with hurt trickling in her eyes.

“Why didn’t you get him anything?” Is that what she’s really worried about? We had more pressing matters at hand.

“What do I get a giant alien robot?” The kid quieted down after my question, knowing I had a point.

Wait, doesn’t the meat need to be cooked for humans? Probably. I sighed before getting to my feet and began to collect large sticks to burn. “What are you doing, Midnight?” she asked and went to stand up but the pain in her leg stopped her.

“Getting wood to burn for a fire. The steaks need to be cooked for you.” I threw everything that was big enough to burn in a small pile and started up a quick fire. The flames flickered to life and ate at the wood it could.

During this entire time, Sunstreaker was keeping his mouth shut. My gaze glided over to the silent robot. His eyes were ‘shut’ with his arms crossed to deter anyone from approaching him.   
Did his kind even sleep… shut down? Whatever it’s called. I could ask him in the morning. Would he tell? Probably not. He seems to be a grumpy robot that acts like he has a stick up his ass all the time.

I held the meat in the fire with the flames licking at my scales. “Midnight!” Anna gasped in shock and was frozen in her spot. Ah, yes, humans aren’t fire proof, forgot about that. Her eyes bored into my arm inside of the fire and watched for anything. “You aren’t getting burned. How?”

To explicate the fact my scales were fire proof, I set fire to my other arm. Amazement and wonder grew in her eyes as she stared fascinated. I blocked the energy feeding the flames and focused on cooking the meat. Anna had a giddy look on her face and bounce where she sat. 

Hm. That was a first.

The steak took some time to cook until it looked to be done. I handed it over to Anna and tore open another pack for me. She stared at the meat in confusion then carefully took a bite out of it. Red liquids dripped down from it. It was blood. My mouth watered at the smell. I also tore into the meat and devoured the first of three quickly.

Anna gazed wide-eyed at me as she was only on her second bite. “How can you eat so fast?” I opened my mouth and lifted my lip slightly to show the sharp canines. My bite was definitely worse than my bark. “Wow. I’ve seen people have pointy teeth like that but not that pointy or long.”

“I also don’t think they can spit acid venom from them too.” The look of fascination on her face doubled and I knew what she wanted me to do. I lazily spat at a nearby tree and listened to sizzle of the acid eating away at it. “Now, eat. You need to get to bed too so your leg can heal.” Anna reluctantly followed my order and began eating her steak again.

About half an hour passed when we finished with our steak and vegetables. The kid didn’t like eating the greens but I slightly forced her. It was for her health. “I also got you some clothing to replace your tattered ones.” I grabbed the matching shirt and pants with the jacket and passed it to her. “If you need help, tell me. I’m going to get some more wood for the fire.”

I turned to go through with my plan but Anna grabbed my tail and stopped me. “Wait, could you help me with my pants? My leg hurts to move.” Jasper and the Decepticons were going to pay dearly for that they did to her, I swear on any god that will listen. I help take off the rags on her legs and replaced them with the brand new ones.

She thanked me once again, I still don’t understand why, and continued on doing the rest on her own. I took this cue to leave and began gathering more wood for the fire.  
To ensure everyone’s safety, including the tin can, I stayed within sight of the camp. The closer I was, the quicker it would take for me to get back if something happened. I took back two arm full’s of wood and set them next to the dying flames.

From her spot, Anna reached over to the pile and threw a couple of pieces in. A bright smile gracing her lips when she looked up at me. “Since I can’t entirely help you, I want to at least help with something,” she explained her action. I returned the gesture and patted the top of her head.

“You are helping me by getting better.” I placed a hand on her forehead to check her temperature. Still too warm. That gave me an idea though. Her old clothing was useless to wear but could be used for another purpose. I thoroughly cleaned what was left of her shirt and cooled down the water particles just above freezing. “Lie down and put this on your forehead. It’ll draw the heat from there.”

Human mothers did this for their children, didn’t they? The memories of my mother before Jasper were blurry and hid a darker meaning. Zayden did this for me though one time after my escape when an illness claimed me.

Quit it! Not the time to be remembering the past, Azar. I scoffed at myself and stood to rest off to the side. “Midnight, could you sleep next to me? It’s cold.” Don’t fall for her cuteness. Don’t fall for it. Don’t.

“Sure, kid.” Damn it! It’s only been three days and Anna had me wrapped around her finger. I lied face down on the ground, rested my chin on my crossed arms, and draped a wing over Anna. I grabbed the frozen piece of cloth and placed it on her forehead. “Sleep tight.” She snuggled up into my side and used the wing as a blanket. Damn kid.

Silence over took the two of us. Her breathing slowed down a few minutes later and she was out for the rest of the night. I scanned our surroundings once more before deeming it safe enough to drift off into sleep. This kid was going to be the death of me, I swear.


	5. Chapter 5

Birds sang, insects chirped. In general, the loud sounds of the forest tore me from a semi-wonderful sleep. I grumbled irritated and was about to get up when the tug of two arms wrapped around mine stopped me. Anna had done that in her sleep with a constricting grip. Lovely, note the sarcasm. 

She was resting peacefully on my side, a gently smile gracing her lips. It would a rude action to move her from underneath my wing. I also didn’t feel any kind of danger nearby. What could be the harm of resting for an extra few minutes? Both the bot or human weren’t up yet and if something did happen, my energy was at a good enough level.

A huge sigh of relief escaped me. I settled carefully next to the kid and closed my eyes. Anna shifted slightly in her spot, causing me stiffen. She stopped moving and had shuffled a little closer to me. 

Kid, I’m now debating whether or not keeping you. Those Decepticons could’ve already started the process that Jasper does. That reminds me, I haven’t asked her if she was tested on while there. She did seem somewhat traumatized. Luckily, that had passed and she was doing much better under my watch and care. 

In the end of this, I’ll be alone again and Anna will be back with her friends and family. Sunstreaker will be returned to the military with his brother and the others like him. 

When the sun was rising higher in the sky, I knew we needed to get going, Staying in one spot for over a day can let to trouble, big trouble. I unhinged Anna’s arms from around my own and stood up. “No,” Anna groaned and reached out to my leg.

Before she could, I took a few extra steps back and stretched out all of my limbs. “Come on, kid. It’s time to wake up and taste the sunshine,” I ushered and strolled over to where the basket was. The wrappers from the food and medical supplies were shoved in it. Once we get on the road, I needed to find a trash can to throw this away in. Ha, a monster knows better to leave trash than most of the humans on this planet.

Anna rolled onto her other side to face away from me and curled up into a ball. Well, let’s see if the tin can is a morning person. I created a small ball of snow and chucked it at his head. The ball went splat against his face and sprinkled down to rest on varies places of his yellow armor. 

His blue eyes immediately light up and locked onto me. A snarl made its way one to his face. Sunstreaker looked like he wanted to kill me right then and there but knew better. “What was that for?” he grounded out and tried to get to his wheeled feet. Main word: tried.

More of that blue substance dribbled down his armor, less in quantity this time. “We need to head out. We’ve been here long enough,” I stated as an idea came to mind. “You keep leaking that blue stuff. Any way I can help?” If we were to speed this along, the bot needed to get better because I’m not carrying them again.

“You didn’t have to throw a snowball at me,” he grumbled and knew there was nothing he could do. “Also, it’s called energon. If you can push my hip gear back into place and weld my cut energon lines back together, then you can help.” Sarcasm was thick in his voice.

Sounded easy enough. “Alright, I can do that. Just tell me what to do.” His brows furrowed as shock washed over his face. I raised a brow in return. “What? I said I can help. What’s wrong with that?”

“I was being sarcastic. Fine, I’ll let you try but one false move and I’ll squish you like the bug you are.” The yellow robot was trying to act threatening but in his state, he couldn’t do anything to hurt me if he tried. 

Sunstreaker scooted off of the tree and lied down for easier access. “So what do you want me to do? Your hip thingy or the energy lines?” The word he used wasn’t energy but it was on the lines of that.

“Energon lines,” he corrected. “Do my left hip gear first, if you can.” To me, that sounded like a challenge and the way he said too aided my thought. I padded over to where he was and inspected the hip joint. 

Wires sparked and were torn. This gave me the opportunity to see where this hip gear was. Kind of like a human, a ball joint had been dislocated from it should have been sat. A lot of force would be needed to push it back into place. I had an idea on fixing it but didn’t know it if would work. I gently rested my hand on the yellow plating but got the most massive shock in my life.

I reeled back as a tingling feeling ran up my arm and settled in the middle of my chest. Our eyes locked onto each other the moment after and anger grew in mine. Here I am, trying to help him, and he has the audacity to shock the living daylights out of me. “Why in the hell would you do that?!” I snarled, ready to lunge on him.

Sunstreaker scoffed and shook his head like he was innocent. “I didn’t do that! You did,” he shouted back and rested on his elbows.

“Uh-huh, I totally believe you… Not! You’re the giant being made of metal. You have a higher chance of collecting electricity.” I think. Metals are good conductors if I remember correctly from my limited knowledge of science.

“You humans can also conduct electricity too. Ratchet goes on and on about that slag when he has the chance.”

My anger was quickly dwindling, surprisingly, the longer our eyes bored into each other. Internally I want to stay mad at him but another part of my brain just brushed it off and I did. I took a huge breath and tuck away the rest of my anger as energy. “We don’t have time to argue so, I have an idea but I don’t know if you’re going to like it.”

“What is it?” His own inner rage sounded like it was leaving him too.

“To push your joint back into place, I need a lot of force. Luckily, it’s popped out with the joint above. I can fly up, do a dive, and just use that momentum to push it back,” I explained. Sunstreaker grumbled lowly a few words that I couldn’t understand.

“Fine, do it.” With permission, I took off into the sky a good couple hundred feet above him before going into a dive. My eyes were trained on his thigh, the place I would land hard on. 

At the last second, I threw all of my weight down to have my feet below me. All of the collected momentum came in handy as my talons slammed into the plating.

A loud pop could be heard. Sunstreaker’s body jerked the moment after and he grabbed at his head to stop himself from swatting me. Sunstreaker shouted in pain. The noise of both the pop and yell woke up the tired girl. She sprung up from her spot and snapped her gaze over to us. Worry pooled in her eyes.

I hop off of his leg and wait for him to settle down. “What did you do to him?” she questioned with concern laced in her voice. Anna stood to her feet and treaded carefully over to him.

“His hip had been popped out of place, I popped it back in for him. It’ll help quicken our pace if he can walk properly and not stumble over his feet,” I explained and stopped her before she could get too close to him. “Don’t. He’s in pain.” Or that’s what it seemed to be. Could his kind feel pain like us humans? By the looks of it, they can. An alien race that was pretty similar to us.   
Strange.

Anna sorrowfully gazed up at me and hugged my waist. “Thank you for helping him.” Why does she keep thanking me for doing my job? I shrugged my shoulders and walked up to him after she let me go.

The hip gear thingy had been pushed back into place thankfully. More of the energon stuff leaked from the disturbed wound. “So on the wires and energon lines, what should I do to?” I questioned and stared intently at the glowing blue liquid. It lightly burned my nose like gasoline would. Did it have the same prosperities as it?

“When you weld lines and wires back together, make sure there is no energon near it. Energon is highly explosive.” So the sparking that is happening isn’t good, fantastic. “Also, don’t touch any energon, it’s toxic for humans.” My scales are thick, I’ll be fine.

I gently grabbed a loose line with energon on it. A tiny burning sensation started in my hand the moment after but nothing worse than that happened. I summoned water to wash away any of the blue liquid away before getting down to business. 

Heat swelled in my hand as I concentrated on welding together wires and energon lines. Off to the side, Anna sat with an ice bottle filled with water in her hand. It was the best I could do at the moment when she got thirsty and needed something to drink.

“So after I fix you up, would you be able to transform and drive for the remainder of the trip?” I spoke up and moved away from his mostly fixed hip. Other places on his body needed the same treatment.

“It would take a couple of days for my hip to heal before I could transform. I’m also in need of energon from how much I have lost.”

“So no on a quicker travel, awesome.” I hop up onto his chest and start working there. “I don’t have any of that stuff and I can only create more water. You’re out of luck from me.” 

“Fossil fuel, gas, whatever it’s called will suffice me until we reach the base.”

“Okay, I can do that once I finish up welding up your wires and lines.” Stupid robot, slowing down this entire mission and shocking me. But the kid wants to keep him and sure is adamant about it.

None of the work I was doing was time efficient in any way shape or form but it got him to where he could walk with a slight limp. Anna was in his grasp as we trekked along the forest floor, on our way to a military base. Fun, isn’t it?

The sun was already on its way down when we started our trip. Now it was below the trees, about to touch the horizon. Tonight though, we weren’t going to stop. We needed to reach Alabama or Mississippi within two days to keep this rolling along smoothly.

With me not needing as much sleep as a normal human would and Sunstreaker needing barely any, we were trucking along. Anna stayed with her robotic friend most of the time unless she wanted to stretch her legs. Well she had to be carefully about her leg, which was doing much better.

It became a day and night cycle of nearly straight walking. Four days had passed. I had gone out again and stole the two of us some food when all of us needed to rest. My legs burned from the amount of walking as I used my wings as the main transport. Flying was quicker than walking but neither the human or robot had a way to fly. So, I was stuck to walking next to Sunstreaker for most of the trip.

His hip had yet to be healed enough for him to transform due to how much traveling we had been doing. That was both of our faults. Since we could continue go on longer than before, we did so.

The kid snuggled up to my side as we sat by the small fire, a Go-gurt in her hand. She asked if she could request anything and that was one of things. The other snack she wanted was Capri Suns. “How much longer until we get back my daddy?” she mumbled sleepy.

I patted top of her head sweetly and gazed up at Sunstreaker. “Depends on when Sunstreaker can transform. Walking takes much longer than driving. Two days of driving at most. For walking, twenty or so days but we’ll be there earlier than thst, I promise.” I squeezed her hand reassuringly and took another bite of an apple. 

Sunstreaker had something on his mind. That got me thinking. When he shocked me, that buzz/tingling feeling never left. It still sat in the middle of my chest, to the right of my heart. I scoffed a plume of smoke. “Whoa,” Anna said in awe and watched the smoke slowly float up. “What was that?” A curious child, sometimes good, sometimes fatal. People learn with curiosity though.

“Smoke, my dear. I can breathe fire but rarely due since I can create it by hand,” I explained and let fire dance between my fingers. Anna reached out to touch it, amazed, but I dismissed the fire before she could. “Fire burns, no touchy-touchy.”

Anna pushed her bottom lip out and gazed up at me. “No, kid. I told you. If you don’t stop, I’ll leave you on the ground and go sleep in a tree.” Her pout disappeared and she looked down at the ground. I felt a little guilty and pulled her more into my side. “You’re injured enough. You don’t need burn marks on your hands to add to the list of wounds.”

“I understand,” she mumbled meekly and soaked up the heat my body natural gave up. “Do you have a family? Are they like you? Do you have any kids or siblings?” she fired off random questions out of nowhere. Where did that come from?

Guilt sprang up at the thought of those I cared about most. A family broken up and fighting over stupid things that didn’t matter. All of us were far from normal, that was for sure. “Uh, k-id,” my voice broke as tears threatened to fall,” let’s not talk about that.” 

Thankfully, she dropped it reluctantly, oblivious to my tone of voice. The heel of my hand rubbed against the middle of my chest. Someone was staring at me. I snapped my gaze to the feeling and noticed Sunstreaker was boring his glowing eyes into me. What was his problem?

I wiped away the tears after tearing my gaze away from him. The fire was dimming slightly from my emotions getting a little out hand. Since it was my ‘creation’, I had a connection with it still even though it had its own fuel source. My powers were a bit confusing, even to me. It was based on emotion and energy though. If I got emotional, then the feeling it was connected to was affected to. 

The kid yawned tired and signaled it was time for sleep. I lied down on my stomach and drew the energy from the fire out. Couldn’t have the forest burn down because of me. Anna snuggled up closer to me and easily slipped off into sleep. Lucky her.

“Why don’t you want to talk about your family?” Sunstreaker’s voice nearly caused me to jerk and wake the girl. Did he seriously want to poke that wasp nest?

A growl rumbled in my chest. “Because I don’t want to. Easy enough answer,” I grounded out between clenched teeth. “Do you want to talk about your brother?”

His silence answered me. I knew what his thought had to be: fair enough. 

The whirling and other mechanical noises coming from his went quiet a good thirty minutes later after our short conversation. A hum came from him, the only sound that told me he was still alive.

With nothing seeming wrong or buzzing danger, I carefully drifted off. This nap was deserved after being up for the past thirty-four or so hours. My watch was gone and I could only guess.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't mess Azar... just don't. No matter who or what you are.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gore warning!

Snap! A stick breaking off in the distance caught my attention. Danger droned in the back of my head. I immediately got to my feet and awaken all of my senses to search what was near. The rolling odor of multiple humans overwhelmed me for a few moments. Not good.

The kid mumbled from being rudely dragged out of her sleep and turned with her back facing me. Nope, not going to work. I lifted Anna by her wrist without another thought and threw a snowball to wake the giant robot. He jerked with a start and glared down at me. The girl squirmed to get out of my hold but failed to do so.

Before he could get a word out, I motioned sharply for him to shut it and pointed in the direction of the noise. Sunstreaker stopped his movement in confusion and stared to where I directed. Another sound of a large group of humans traveling could be heard. Dread boiled in my stomach. We needed-no-we had to get away from here. Now.

Sunstreaker got the idea and got to his feet. His joints barely making a noise this time. He took the girl from my grasp and we began heading away from our base. 

Something internally stopped me though. Their footfalls had quickened. Had they heard us making an escape? It was trouble in general.

The trees were too dense for a fast escape for the tin can. “Keep going. I’m going to divert them. I’ll find you after,” I ordered and took off into the sky towards the humans. They weren’t your normal group humans though, the scent rolling down wind to me. Jasper was coming.

My wings barely made a sound as they carried me just above the top of the trees. To ensure they couldn’t see me, I camouflaged into the surroundings. Element of surprise.

Excitement bloomed inside of me. Unlike before at the Jasper data center, I was ready to rip my claws into these measly humans. This time, I was protecting two beings besides gathering information on foreign and energy ground. It was different and held purpose, something I would use as an excuse for killing a good twenty or more Jasper soldier.

What did Rue and Cyrus think they were doing? Twenty people stood no chance against me: the killing machine they both knew oh-so well. Unless they were strictly hunting for the girl and robot. This meant, I definitely had the element of surprise. Perfect.

Jasper soldiers littered the ground below me. Guns raised to fire anything on the verge of dangerous, AKA me if they knew I was there. 

Behind them though, stood the same robot from the Jasper data center. That’s why they didn’t send as many soldiers as they usually do. With it here, that meant double trouble for me to divert them.

Two icicles formed in my hands, sharp and deadly to anyone on the wrong end of them. I threw one of them down at the robot to take it down first. The icicle hit its mark, digging deep in exposed wire between its neck and shoulder. It grunted in pain and fell down to its knee. I took the given opportunity to hurl the other one into its back.

The ice expanded where they sat lodged in the robot, causing as much damage as possible. Its sudden movement and noise scared the soldiers. They wildly pointed their guns in every direction, searching for the one who it. Once place they forgot to look was up.

I dove down and latched my talons on a soldier shoulder on the outer edge of the group. She screamed fearfully and scratched violently at my digitigrade legs to get me to let go. The gun that was in her hands fell back down to the ground. Her nails did nothing to pierce the thick scales covering my body.

Gunfire sounded below us as the soldiers shot blindly up into the bright sky. Every bullet meant to hit me was blocked by the human shield in my talons. Idiots. 

Once far enough in the air where a human couldn’t survive the drop, I release the woman. Her screams continued as she fell a good two hundred feet from the ground. I wasn’t done though. Time for round two.

Every human below watched the woman fall to her death with no sign of the attacker. Distracted, perfect for me. I went in for two soldiers this time and lifted them high above the trees. Both were men this time, shouting and screaming for me to let go. One still had his gun in hand and tried to use it one me. Main word: tried.

Ice grew where his hand connected with the gun, frostbite immediately starting. His shouts turned from fright to pain as the ice expanded up his arm. This man wasn’t going to die by the cold. I opened my talons once more and let them fall to their death as well. Their screams did echo throughout the forest though.

Down below, the robot was getting back to its feet. I controlled the ice already inside of it to swell more and forced it back on its knees. My energy was starting to thin, meaning I needed to wrap this up. I dove once more and landed in the middle of everyone.

Without wasting a second, fire danced from my fingers over to the humans to the left of me. I turned my attention to the other eight and lunged at the nearest. The soldier never saw it coming, literally.

The gun in her hand was knocked to the ground and she was left with no chance to defeat me. That didn’t deter the soldier though. She raised her fist to try to defend herself but didn’t stand a chance against me once-of-ever. I swiped swiftly passed her defenses. My deadly talons slashed her throat, deep and fatal.

She wasn’t the only soldier there, I had many to defeat and return back to Anna and Sunstreaker.

A bullet tore through my leg, blood splattering the ground. My gaze snapped over to the humans who foolishly did that and lunged at them the second after. His body fell to the ground quickly but his wasn’t the first, nor was it the last.

Blood and human bodies littered the ground. Said blood dripped off of my talons and was soaked up by the earth. The smell of smoke stuck to anything it could reach, including my suit. It wasn’t your normal camp fire smoke but of burning bodies. 

The same robot from before tore the icicle in its shoulder out and roughly stood to its feet. Rage clearly evident in its glowing red eyes. “You! Megatron and Jasper have plans for you,” he, sounded like a male, declared and went to grab me. 

Bad move, bucko.

He forgot about the deadly shard of ice in his back. I used that to my advantage and controlled the ice to cover him neck to toe. This stopped him in his tracks as he was completely stuck. I raised my hand to off him like the humans around us but something internally stopped me. “You’re lucky,” I hissed before taking off into the sky to find where the two had escaped to.

Wait a minute… The tingling was barely noticeable right now. What happened? I shook off the thought as a sign of my insanity and quickened my pace. The quicker I can get to Anna and Sunstreaker, the sooner in know they are safe away from Jasper and the Decepticons.

Bright yellow armor could be seen peaking through the trees, weaving swiftly through the dense trees. I used two fingers to whistle loudly and catch Sunstreaker’s attention. Said being stopped in his tracks and glanced all around him until his gaze found me. I dipped my head to silent tell him him everything was okay and motioned for the two of them to continue. There was a road a little off in the distance we could gather ourselves.

Sunstreaker nodded his head, understanding what I was wanting and followed through. Ha, that was something new. He seemed very adamant of not listening anything I said, including comments about my humanness. 

I also took off and quickly made it to the road before he did. The buzz of danger was gone even though that Decepticon still lives, barely. I glanced down at my hands, dried blood stuck to them and flaked a little when I curled. To get rid of the dried blood, I created a small amount of water and washed off all the blood.

His yellow metal body pushed passed the tree line of this back road of a random city, about fifty or so feet down the road. I flew over to him and hovered close to him.

Anna sat, curled up in his hand for protection, fear evident in her eyes. “Hey, it’s alright. They’re gone.” Saying that I killed would frighten her even more. “I diverted them and sent them away from us.” Not a real lie; diverted to never taking another step or breathe. “Sunstreaker, there was a Decepticon with them.”

Confusion grew on his face. “Who is them? Depending on them, it wouldn’t be too surprising that there was a Con with them. Give me a description,” he questioned and lowered the kid to the ground. 

“Jasper, remember? I saw him at the Jasper data base. He looks like an evil cop, transformed from a cop car I think.”

A dangerous growl came from him. “Barricade,” he spat out with distaste and glared deeply at the ground. “Did you offline him?”

“No but before you have a hissy-fit, I injured him enough so he couldn’t follow me. But we need to continue going on, Jasper will be suspious if none of their soldiers report back.” Sunstreaker luckily didn’t argue with me on the point.

“Fine, but I think it’s time to try if my hip gear is well enough.” Something within told me to move back and so I did.

In front of me, the bot folded on himself passively and changed his shape into a vehicle: a Lamborghini. It reminded me of the three jets from the war ship. That feels so long ago now even though it wasn’t. Anna ran up to him, excited about his transformation.

The newly formed Lamborghini opened up his door for her, it folded up instead swinging outward. She slipped inside the vehicle and disappeared after the door closed. Wow, a gentleman I must say. The driver side opened, inviting me to join the young girl. I landed next to the door and shook my head to decline the other. “You still need the guide of a tracker up in the sky. And-“ I leaned down to look closer into the interior-“ a little too small for a twenty-four wing span.”

“Alright, makes sense,” he responded, his voice coming from the speakers, and closed the door. The kid waved excitedly in her seat. The seatbelt for her side slithered in front of her and clicked in to place. Safety first. “A day at most, right?”

“Of straight driving and flying. We are probably in Mississippi right now after how much we have traveled but no promises. Follow the speed limits and we should arrive in Washington by tomorrow night. And be careful with the girl with you, ‘kay?” All I got from him was grumbling before he took off in the direction he was facing. Luckily for him, it was the right direction of heading northwest.

I sighed, a little irritated by his actions, and subconsciously rubbed at the middle of my chest before taking off after him. My powerful wings able to easily catch up with the speeding Lamborghini. What did I say about following the speed?! We did not need the entire state’s cops on our tail. It seemed to have gone through one ear and out the other. Did his kind have ears? Well, he could hear clearly. Probably not called an ear since he’s mechanical. Maybe it’s the large fins on the side of his head.

Why was I thinking about that? In less than forty-eight hours, they’ll be returned to their families and I’ll be on my way on saving other lives. I still need to somehow get a message to Mia for another watch or just to tell her I was fine. 

The sun had finally ducked below the horizon but its rays still reached out in desperation to stay alit. Sunstreaker had stopped at a gas station to refill up his tanks since he couldn’t before. I landed on top of the cover of the gas pumps to watch out for anything. There were two cars parked at the convenience store, both had a passenger sitting on the right side.

At the sound of the powerful sounding engine pulling up to the place, the two humans glanced over. Their eyes snapped up once they noticed me, shock and fear clearly evident on their faces. I rolled my eyes and gave a short wave to acknowledge them.

Anna got out of Sunstreaker’s vehicle form and limped over to the pump. Did they kid even know how to do it? The kid pushed the supreme button, took the thing off the holder, and stuck the nozzle into the gas tank. His form shivered visible but didn’t do anything to stop her.

This little stop didn’t just included filling Sunstreaker’s vehicle form up but a bathroom break for Anna. After ensure the nozzle won’t fall out, she hobbled over to the back of the building. I glided over to the door and waited on the roof. Those two humans also watched my movements, amazement growing in their eyes. The fright had been washed away. Weird.

While waiting for Anna to finish, a black SUV pulled into the parking lot. Not unusual for a gas station like the place we are at. Yet something told me this wasn’t your normal vehicle. It didn’t feel dangerous on any level but held an underlining tone to it. 

A growl rumbled deep in my chest as the scales covering my body camouflaged for protection. With no symbol on the side, it couldn’t have been Jasper. They love to show their power and strut their name all across the states. Aztec keeps to the shadows and uses the darkness as an advantage. Something I learned from them and it has kept me free. Better to play it safe than sorry.

Two humans stepped out, both on look out for something. Thick body armor protected them from gun fire and held other weapons. They stared at the vehicle form of Sunstreaker, reorganization passed over their faces. One of them made his way over to tin can while his partner scanned the surrounding area where she stood. What was going on here?

I stood on the edge of the building, ready to pounce to protect Sunstreaker if need be. Wait what?! What was I thinking? The bot could easily defend himself from two humans. By the gods, he was fifteen feet tall and weighed a ton. The buzz in my chest pulled, frightening on the foreign feeling. I shook it off and waited impatiently for Anna to hurry up.

My eyes wandered back over to the male soldier circling the Lamborghini then over to the female. Surprise filled me as her brown orbs were locked on my form. How? The two must be specially looking for me then for her to spot me. This wasn’t good, crap.

The female brought out a smart phone. Then, miraculously, my eyes found the Aztec symbol on her uniform. Relief passed through me at the thought of them being part of Jasper. 

Dread washed away any relief the moment after. She was going to contact Aztec, Zayden, of my   
whereabouts. Definitely not good on any terms.

Instinctively, my body sprang into action and rushed over to where she was before she could do anything else. I wrapped my talons around her shoulders and pushed her roughly into the SUV they arrived in. Shock grew on her features as she tried to fight against me. A grunt escaped her lips from the force of the impact.

The scales on my body shifted their color to be seen. I released the female to land on the ground before wrapping a deadly hand around her throat so no noise came from her. This solider must be a newbie for Aztec since I didn’t recognize her. “What are you doing here?” I grounded out and loosened the hold just in the slightest so she could talk. Anger-fear clear on my features.

She clawed at my hand to get me to release her. “Zayden-,” was all she was able to choke out. My talons tightened at the mention of the leader of Aztec’s name. I wasn’t afraid of him, there was no reason to be but more afraid of him finding me. My presence endangers those around me, including family.

When will he learn to let me go? He couldn’t keep me safe at all times. I sighed with irritation of the situation growing. “Azar, what are you doing?!” an unfamiliar male voice called and used my real name.

I whipped around to face whoever said my name and glared daggers at the male soldier rushing over to us. Heat racing to my fingertips. To deter the human from coming any closer, I bared my deadly canines at him. “Come any closer and I will spit acid on you.”

This gladly stopped him in his tracks. At least this human was somewhat smart. Zayden needs to pick better soldiers to join his team. “I’m going to leave and you two will never speak about seeing me. Zayden must stay far away from me. I don’t care if he is family or not.”

Finally, Anna appeared around the corner of the building but stopped in her tracks at the sight. I motioned with my head for her to go to Sunstreaker. The kid listened to my command and reentered his vehicle mode. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a kid and robot to return. Do not follow me.” With that ended for, I released the female soldier and took to the sky.

For both of their sake, they didn’t try to follow me. But that didn’t stop the female from picking up the phone she dropped and push some buttons on it. Her eyes were locked onto me as she held the phone up to her ear, seriousness washing over her face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Azar is an unforgiving killing machine; falling back to her roots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another gore warning!

Below me, Sunstreaker raced through the sea of cars on the highway and continued at a high rate of speed. Confusion trickled through with irritation taking over as I was forced to quicken my wing strokes. He was going to catch attention, police attention, if he wen-.

Out of nowhere, an inner force nearly knocked me out of the sky. A frightening danger droned inside of my head and caused me to stop in place. My eyes snapped in every which way in search of what caused the danger bells to go off. Nothing could be seen or heard except the roaring engine of Sunstreaker’s vehicle form.

Dread bubbled over internally as terror gripped me tightly. What was going on?! I failed to notice in the first few times of scanning for the source the growing hoard of Jasper vehicles. Above them, at least five jets soar through the sky, heading straight towards us. Where did they come from? Why did my extra sense just alert me of the impending army?

Instead of hovering there like an idiot, I wildly pumped down my wings to gain speed and be able to catch up with Sunstreaker. His form was fleeing the hoard with the kid still in his vehicle form. Is that why he began to drive fast? Ugh! Then why didn’t he tell me or something of the large group?!

A vicious mix within between the sudden massive amount of fear and slowly growing anger. Just what I need to take down Jasper and the Decepticons following us.

I dove down once catching up to the tin can and allowed myself to be seen. “We got company if you didn’t know!” my voice was hopefully heard over the roaring wind between us. 

His engine sputtered at my words. “What?! We’re close though. Keep going. I just contacted my brother a few moments ago. Him and the others will be here soon.” My extra sense droned on and alerted me we didn’t have enough time for them to come to our rescue.

A growl sounded from my throat as rage began to even out with the fear. “We don’t have time. Keep going and keep the kid safe. I mean it!” I took a sharp right to start heading towards the growing army. 

It was my time to shine and show off all that I had.

My mind wandered over to a form that Jasper was very familiar with: my nightmare form. For battles like these, I used the more powerful, more deadly form to take down massive groups like this. And it was going to aid me in my time of need so I initiated the shift.

First off for the shift, my body enlarged itself to stand at a whopping nine feet or so. A double set of claws grew from in between my knuckles, just as deadly as the first set. Two extra wings sprouted from my back, quickening my pace. On top of my head, the horns multiplied twice to create a crown of some sorts, giving me a scarier look as well. 

At the corner of my mouth, four pair of teeth grew; two on the top and two on the bottom. Needle like spikes grew from the bottom of my neck, all the way down to tip of my tail; ranging in length, depending where they sat. The scales, too, became more apparent and added to the scary factor of this form.

Shifting into this form wasn’t painful, it felt natural, normal to so. It, also, released a fiery hatred within, fueling the fire inside of me even more. I was ready to kill all that stand in my way and wasn’t afraid to do so.

A deafening roar pierced the sky as flames covered my body. Two fire balls grew in my hands as I readied myself to take on Jasper and the Decepticons.

Once seeing the flaming body of my nightmarish form, everyone on the ground came to a screeching halt. The jets in the sky continued forward and began to fire some more plasma shots or whatever they are at me. I immediately went on the defensive side and went into a straight dive towards the ground. Let’s test their mobility skills, shall we?

The seven jets followed me like a lost puppy, guns still firing in hope of blasting me out of the sky. One of them was lucky enough to hit the top right wing and cause minimal damage to it. Only a slight sting sprouted from the newly inquired wound. The pain actually fueled my hatred towards them and the humans on the sky.

With the two extra appendages, it lessened the time needed to pull up from the ground. Jets, even if they were aliens, don’t have a great turning radius at high speeds and we were clocking about two-hundred miles per hour. They also don’t really have any breaks like me.

All of them seemed too focused me to notice the ground quickly approaching. At the very last moment, I unfurled my four wings to catch the wind hurling at me. They whirled past me, nearly taking me out. The jets then realized what was below them and attempted to pull up while putting on full after burner. For two of them, it was just enough for them to skim their underbellies on the concrete.

The others crashed into the ground below like lawn darts. Okay, five down, two to go. That was a great accomplishment to me. My wing muscles on the other hand burned from the strain of trying to stop at a high-rate of speed. I shook it off and went after the two leftover aliens still alive.

I passed over the group of Jasper soldiers on the ground who were waiting for me to tire. Some took the opportunity to fire their guns attached to the vehicles. All except one shot missed me, said bullet struck me in the hip, one of the worse places possible. Thankfully, it went all the way through instead of staying there and causing more trouble.

My wings faltered from the overwhelming pain of the bullet wound. Not even my adrenaline could wash away the agony. It still fueled the two fire balls in my hand.

They continued to shoot at me, in weak attempts to hit me. I went in for another round, this time sending the two balls down at them. They scrambled to get away from the inevitable and only tripped over their own feet. 

On impact, the two spheres created chaos. One had hit a Jasper vehicle, igniting the gas inside of it. The explosion caused a domino effect around it. Three other military styled jeeps exploded, killing a small amount of soldiers who were too closer. Another small victory for me. But there were still a good seventy or so Jasper soldiers still alive.

Plasma shots barely missed me as the jets resumed their attack on me. More gunfire rang from below. I needed to give me some space or their tactic was going to work.

Blood poured from the opened wound on my hip. The pain was unnerving me and causing me to lose focus on the battle around me. To stay on track, I shook my head to clear my slowly blurring vision and started to gain altitude. 

Jasper’s guns were powerful, they had to be if they wanted to take me down or kill me. The guns also had a good range on them but always have their limits. The further you are away from a moving target, the harder it is to hit said target.

All four wings gripped onto the air to push me forward. Until I willed them to back into a small dive. The Decepticons were waiting for this, just like I though. I latched onto the nearest one and used the double set of claws to tear into the armor.

The robot transformed to get me off of its body. I climbed to its back and dug like a madwomen for its spine, an important part for a human. Hopefully the same for a Cybertronian. 

Its screech caused my ears to ring as a headache began to rise. A small side affect from continuously using my powers with now break and the loud noises don’t help at all. I didn’t stop and ripped at energon lines and other important looking things until it stopped.

Both of us were now falling towards earth now, Gravity drawing us back. I wasted no time though and leapt over to the other jet. This time, I spat a large glob of acid-venom on its body and got to work and destroying it.

Unlike its buddy, the Decepticon wildly flew to try and shake me off. This is where my double set claws came in handy once more. The acid ate away at the armor, easily breaching past the outer shell of the robotic jet.

The Decepticon finally stopped moving and fell along its partner towards earth. I released my hold on it and went into a slow dive, knowing my wings couldn’t handle another abrupt stop.

Soldiers started to fire up at me again after seeing their helpers lose against me. Exhaustion was catching up with and made my reaction times slower. Another bullet pierced the top right wing muscle, drawing a cry of pain from me. I push through the torment and allowed for cold to rush the tips of my fingers.

More bullets zipped past and getting a little too close for comfort. I gritted my teeth and threw down nearly ounce of cold energy to the ground. This battle was dragging out and taking up too much my energy and time.

Long, deadly shards of ice grew at rapid rates and impaled any unsuspecting Jasper soldier. To ensure all the ones here were truly dead, I picked up any fleeing person and used the large icicles as human kabobs. Their blood staining the blue rods red.

I landed at the edge of the battle field with my legs barely able to support me. My chest heaved as my lungs worked over time to get me the needed oxygen after this difficult fight. The wound on my hip stung painful from the added weight of me landing.

Behind me, the roaring of powerful engines catch me slightly off guard. I kept my body facing forward and only turned my head to glance at who was approaching.

Sunstreaker’s yellow vehicle form raced toward me. Before he got within twenty feet, he stopped and transformed. His glowing eyes surveyed the chaos around him. The dead bodies littering the ground. Fires somehow staying alive with barely any fuel. Humans stuck on giant icicles. And I standing there, ready to collapse.

Other vehicles rolled up behind me and transformed as well. I was too out of it to react and watched as Sunstreaker carefully approached me. “Midnight?” he called, timid as if checking if it was truly me.

As the energy left me, my body shifted back into its friendlier form. My legs were no longer able to hold my body’s weight and gave out. Sunstreaker was just close enough to catch me before I could hit the ground. An action that seemed not very like him. I lazily took note of the buzz in my chest had nearly tenfold by being in contact with him. 

Our eyes met, mine were hooded over as the lack of energy made me beyond tired. The tin can lifted me up and somewhat cradled me in his grasp. A caring moving. “Are you okay?”

Out of the corner of my eye, the other robots made their way over to us. I wasn’t able to say anything as a darkness clouded my vision and drew me away from the real world.

My conscience floated around the inky blackness of my new surroundings. Did I die? What a pathetic way to die? Wait-the kid! Was she okay? She wasn’t with Sunstreaker or any of the other Cybertronians. After all of this, if she wasn’t safe, I was going to kill someone. Well, I already did that. A lot of someone’s and some robots.

Safe.

Huh?! Confusion and fright raced through as another voice sliced through the silence. Comfort flashed as an emotion for me even it wasn’t my own before fading. I then fought against the suffocating darkness. I needed to get out here. Now!

It wasn’t safe here, the opposite of the voice, not in my mind. And I had to ensure Anna was safe and alive. If Sunstreaker gotten her killed, I was going to kill him instead. 

The inky darkness tried to pull me back as I swam/fought against. A light shone off in the distance, becoming my main goal. 

My muscles ached the closer I got to the light as the agony in my hip increased. So I wasn’t dead, just in a very deep sleep. Those rarely happen. The only times they was when I used every ounce of my powers or my body had taken too much damage to heal while awake. A coma, my body would put me in a coma.

A gasp tore at my throat as my eyes snapped open to taken in my surroundings. White, everything was white. I painful sat up and scanned the room I seemed to be in. A hospital style room. Where was I? Where was Annabelle?!

I pulled at the medical equipment attached to me and went to stand on my feet. Moving my hip caused agony to explode from the wound. A cry/growl passed my lips as the equipment beeped wildly, alerting to a non-existent danger. 

Then, I noticed the specialized suit was gone and in its place a blue hospital gown. This was so degrading. It didn’t bother as much as any other human would since I was use to being naked. Shifting tears clothes and they don’t magically come back like in the movies.

Sounds of pounding feet outside, caused me to sit up straight, unsure of whoever was approaching. Four humans breached the door, eyes locking onto mine. My lips curled up as I went into a defensive mode. I pushed off the cot to face the medical team but instead fell to the floor. 

The wound’s pain only tenfold from movement. One of humans timidly came up to me, clearly scared of me but wanting help nevertheless. He held out a hand for me to take, muscles tense as if waiting for me pounce. 

Instead of hurting like he thought I was going to do, I gripped the side of the cot and shakily stood. “Where am I? And where is Annabelle?” I grounded out and watched him also stand up after I declined his help. None of them seemed dangerous nor did they give off a threatening vibe. All they wanted to do was help but were terrified to do so. Understandable.

“You’re, you’re at a military base in Washington. For Anna, she’s a few rooms down, asleep,” the first helper answered. I released a sigh of relief that we had made it to the Autobot’s base. This mission had been completed with the safe return of Annabelle and Sunstreaker. Now, it was time for me to leave and/or escape if they tried to make me stay.

Painfully, I took three steps forward but was stopped by the one closest to me. “Where are you going?”

“Away.” Another short, sweet answer. I made two more steps before he stood in front of me. “Get out of my way.” My voice was low and threatening to ensure he moved.

He gulped visibly and stood their dumbly. “No, you aren’t going anywhere. The right side of you pelvis is shattered and your right… wing tendon has been torn. The only place you’re going is back to bed.” Confidence for him seemed to grow at each word he said.

Did he seriously think he could stop me? “Doctor Lands, should we alert Ratchet about her awakening?” one of nurses, I’m guessing, questioned, nervousness clear shown in her body language.

Wait… Ratchet? Anna has mentioned that name. Maybe he’ll help me. “Yes, please do. Also, make sure Major Lennox knows as well,” newly named ‘Doctor Lands’ ordered the nurse. Said nurse left the room as the other two hung by the door. “You two can go, I’ll be fine with Midnight.” How does he know my name?!

Relief passed over their features as they quickly left the room. “Anna has said a lot of things about you. You’re brave soldier for facing the Decepticons all on your own,” he stated. Where did his fear go? “Sit back down, you aren’t in any shape of leaving, let alone, walking.”

Unfortunately for me, the doctor was right. Grumpily, I eased myself down onto the semi soft cot and glare daggers at him. He paid no attention to my attitude and began turning off the beeping machines.

Silence grew between the two of us. I took the opportunity to look the doctor over seeing if maybe I knew him since his fear had dissipated so quickly. He was rather short, with medium length golden brown hair and a longer, oval shaped face. The doctor’s face suggested he was between thirty and forty. His eyes had a beautiful color to them: the color of the sun shining through whiskey. Nothing of his features reminded me of someone I knew. 

The opening of the room’s door, many minutes later, broke the growing silence. In stepped another man, this time not a doctor or nurse but a soldier. N.E.S.T and Lennox were printed out on his vest, neither name I knew of. The scent that came with him, I did know: Anna’s. He was very recently with her. What for? 

Protectiveness swelled in my chest as my eyes lock onto his brown ones. He dipped his head to Lands who left the room after being dismissed. “Hello there, Midnight. It’s nice to finally meet you when you’re awake. I’m William Lennox, father Annabelle.” 

Oh shit.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William Lennox, father of Annabelle Lennox. This meeting is going to be interesting. He's human after all and many humans don't accept change something different.

William Lennox, a man that I thought would be a little bit more appreciative of me for bring back Annabelle. Boy was I wrong.

The soldier held stoic expression as he sat in a chair, hand near the pistol on his right hip. A wave of fresh fear rolled off of him, causing the corners of my mouth to curl up. Ha, he was trying to act like the boss of this situation but instead was afraid of little ol’ me. But a pang of hurt struck me deep in my heart.

His brown eyes bored straight into my silver ones, him still putting on a tough guy act. “What are you?” he started off with. I rolled my eyes and glared daggers at him, a hint of anger from his words trickling into my blood stream.

“I don’t know. Your guess is good as mine, William,” I near growled at his name. His brows furrowed as confusion washed over his face.

“What do you mean you ‘don’t know’? Are you an alien or are you from earth?” Quietly, he added, “I doubt it.” Heat rushed to my fingertips, ready to be used on the disrespectful human.

“I’m not an alien, I’m from earth as well. I guess you can call my species ‘Draconic’ since I resemble a dragon,” I responded with the same answer Sunstreaker got. Hmmm, is Sunstreaker here too? 

“Alright, good enough answer. Who do you work for? Jasper or the Decepticons?” The pot of anger deep inside of me was nearly boiling over just because of that sentence. I saved both his daughter and the yellow tin can and this is what he gives back. Lovely. Nice to know how he treats those that help him.

“Neither. I work by myself,” I scoffed and wanted nothing more to leave without another word. “What’s with all these degrading questions? I brought home your daughter and Sunstreaker. I thought you would be a little… more appreciative of me.” I lowered myself off of the cot, my hip ached from the movement but that didn’t stop me.

Fear ran through William’s body as he sprang to his feet, gun pointing right at my head. Danger chimed in my head. Yeah, I can clearly see the gun. Another eye roll for his ridiculous actions. “Don’t you move! I swear, I will shoot you.”

Those words didn’t stop me from standing fully without the help of the cot. My wings furled tightly behind my back, the right one having a little trouble due to the wound. Ah, nearly forgot about that from yesterday. Both seemed a bit more healed for a day sleeping, maybe it was two. “I’m not going to hurt you. I would’ve done that already if I wanted to. Now, I’m gonna get going.”

Ringing of some sort of cell phone filtered into the air. Will tensed at the noise and fumbled for the smart phone, not taking his eyes off of me for a second. The gun’s aim slightly shifted to the side as his attention was mostly on the device. He answered it by clicking on the screen and brought it up to his ear. “Ratchet? What do you want?” Ratchet? That name was brought up again.

My advance hearing caught onto what this Ratchet being was saying. “I heard that Annabelle’s friend is awake and you are with her. If you could, can you bring her to the Med. Bay so I could check her over?” His voice didn’t sound very… human, more like it was robotic; kind of like Sunstreaker’s voice. Probably just like him, the name would suggest to that.

The human eyes narrowed on me. “I don’t know about that Ratchet. She’s dangerous. The best place for her is the brig until we can get more information out of her.” One side of me boasted at him calling me dangerous while the other shrunk down timidly, hating that word.

“Sunstreaker has explained what she has done for both him and Annabelle. She may be dangerous but she helped get the two get back. Optimus would disagree with you on putting her in the brig. I suggest talking with him before you go through with that silly idea.” Hmm, maybe I’ll like this Ratchet being for having my back.

A frustrated growl came from Will as he slid his gun back into its holster. “Fine, we’ll see you in ten to twenty minutes.” He put the device in his pocket motioned towards the door. “We’re going to Ratchet’s Med. Bay. Try anything and I’ll shoot you right where you stand.” As much as he tried, the fear that underlined his words wouldn’t disappear.

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly to show he wasn’t going to get a reaction out of me. This angered him even more and he stomped behind me, borderline acting like a child. 

We strolled through the halls of this military hospital. Scents overwhelmed me from the amount of humans in one place. I didn’t let this stop me from walking with confidence to show no one could down me. My head held high, shoulders back, and each step I took held no hesitation. Any human that dared to gaze at me immediately looked away, except a couple that had amazement in their eyes. Weird-os.

On the outside of the building, fresh, cold air washed away the hundreds of human odors inside of the building. The sun hung high in the sky, telling the time to be around noon or so.

Massive hangars could be seen over the human sized buildings. How tall are these robots?! Or those could be for planes… Hopefully.

Other normal sized buildings lined a two-lane wide street that also connected the hospital. William didn’t let me stop to observe the tiny town. “Come on, it’s going to be a long walk to get to the Med. Bay from here,” he grumbled. 

At this point, my hip was blazing with agony as the two of us continued on with our path. We weren’t even halfway there in the first place, this walk was going to be long and horrible. I couldn’t fly either due to my wing in the same position and he said he would shoot me if I tried anything. Picking out bullets isn’t fun, I should know, it’s happened before.

Awkward silence grew between us as we marched on, heading towards the Med. Bay. It seemed he was leading me to the huge hangars on the other side of the human buildings. If Ratchet was like Sunstreaker, including height wise, it would only make sense for him to reside in one of them.

Lennox opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut a second after. Curiosity killed the cat I must say. “Spit out whatever you’re going to say. I’ve been asked and called worse,” I hissed, trickles of pain leaking into my voice. Damn it.

He stumbled over his words, barely making any sense of what he was saying before clearing his throat. “I wanted, I wanted to thank you for bringing home Anna and Sunstreaker.”   
Really, was his ego too big for him to say that without me forcing him to? Humans. “Just doing my job and finishing a mission.”

My words caught his interest. “Job? Mission? But you said you don’t work for anyone.” 

“I don’t. I can be self employed, you know. Anyway, ever heard of a team called Aztec? Not the ancient group of humans way back,” I questioned and gritted my teeth as pain overflowed from major wound. That was becoming annoying.

Nothing came from his mouth as the gears inside of his head turned. “Uh, yes, once or twice. A Jasper prisoner spilled their name. Who are they?” Uneasiness could be heard in his voice, him unsure of Aztec.

“Don’t worry, they aren’t bad. Quite the opposite. They fight Jasper, in hopes of bringing them down. I also use to work alongside of them,” I answered, feeling a little tension loosen from my shoulders. Maybe he wasn’t as bad as his first impression was. Fear can drive someone to do something they never wanted to do.

“What happened?” he pressed and wanted answers from me. I knew how to play this game and knew when to stop before it uncovered any of my dark past. 

A sigh escaped my lips as the memory of leaving Aztec’s base came to mind. I, just a shadow under the half moon, timidly flying away, tears pouring down my face. “My presence endangers those around me. Jasper has it out for me.”

We had finally pushed pass the human buildings and were heading towards the hangars. Less human scents in this direction, surprisingly. “Why does you being around others threaten them? And why does Jasper ‘have it out for you’?”

Did the egoistical human not get it? Everyone thinks inside of the box, never looking around or past the walls. “Just think about. What do evil people usually want?” Confusion morphed his expression. “Power.” He mouthed ‘o’ as it made sense to him. “They don’t have that power-“

“-So they want someone who does,” he interrupted me. Rude I must say and no manners. “I’m guessing you had friends at Aztec, you didn’t want your friends to get hurt, so you left to take on Jasper all by yourself. Selfless. Brave. And stupid.”

His last words caused me to stop in my tracks. He ran into my back due to my sudden movements. I whipped around with my lips curled up to show off the dangerous canines. “I’m not stupid. You would do the same for your daughter,” I grounded out and took a threatening step towards him.

All signs of ease washed away as terror grew on his face. “Yeah.” A growl rumbled deep in my chest for him to rephrase his words. “I’m mean for doing the same for Anna. What I heard about Aztec, they are a small but hardy team. You being around them isn’t going to endanger them as much as you think.” 

Oh, but I do know how my presence has killed over hundreds of Zayden’s men. With me gone, that number has dropped to barely ten percent of that. “You don’t know anythi-“

“Is everything alright here?” a semi familiar voice questioned from behind me. Ratchet’s voice to be exact that I knew from the phone call less than twenty minutes ago. I whipped back around to face this Ratchet and gapped at the tall, bright neon yellow robot. He was definitely taller than Sunstreaker by at least five feet.

William stepped to the side from behind me. “Yes, just a… disagreement between us.” Smart choice of words. “Midnight, this is Ratchet, the CMO for the Autobots and sometimes humans. Ratchet, this Midnight, Anna and Sunstreaker’s savoir.”

Ratchet dipped his head in a greeting gesture. “It’s nice to meet you. Sunstreaker has spoke quite a bit about you and your abilities. And of how you helped them off the Nemesis.”

“The tin can spoke about me? Surprising,” I made light of the slightly awkward situation. My hip ached the longer I was forced to stand on it. 

“I would watch what you say, fleshie,” a familiar brooding voice spoke up. I turned to face the speaker and low n’ behold, speaking of the devil was standing there. A red Cybertronian lookalike was besides him, blue eyes locked onto my frame. My own glared up at him in defense to deter him from continuing. Our eyes locked, his being the same hue as Sunstreaker. 

The two did look similar in appearances, possibly personalities. Was this ‘Sides’ his twin/brother? ‘Sides’ did have other features than Sunstreaker to keep anyone from mixing them up. Besides the obvious red yellow color differences, Sides didn’t have the fins on the sides of his head. The metal plates on his front were different. He also had a few more ‘scars’ compared to his twin.

A smirk appeared on the red bot. “You like what you see?” he teased and stuck out a hip so his hands could rest on it. I scoffed with a roll of my eyes and returned my gaze up to Ratchet.

While standing there, an inner force within me pulled in the direction of the two. All of the muscles in my body tensed from the foreign feeling. I stood up straight and paid more attention to the strange tingling still going on in the middle of my chest.

The sound of snapping fingers drew me back to the real world. I snatch the hand in my face and twisted it painfully. William grunted bent back to lessen pressure on the appendage. “Don’t do that again or you’ll lose your hand,” I threatened, eyes boring into his. The fear he most definitely felt grew. 

I released him after getting my point acrossed for a good few seconds. William rubbed at his red wrist and narrowed his eyes at me. “Jeez, you didn’t have to do that. I was just trying to get your attention,” he mumbled and sounded butt-hurt. I choose not to respond and waited for him another to speak.

Thankfully, the red Cybertronian came to my rescue. “So, Midnight, I heard from my lovely brother that you kicked some Con aft. Which I also saw for myself when we came back,” he stated. Nothing he said was necessarily a question and it just seemed like he was trying to get me to talk. I didn’t feel like talking to him or his twin and ignored him looking up to Ratchet.

Said robot luckily understood the look on my face. “ Midnight, could you come along with me to the Med. Bay? I need to take a blood sample and run some other scans to ensure you are healing fine.” 

Uneasy of the thought of him taking blood, I decided to pressure him on what he wanted it for. “Why do you need blood? I have physical injuries that don’t concern of needing a blood sample.” It was a personal thing of not wanting to give up any of the red substance.

“It’s just to see the difference from when you first arrived. I took a sample back then and realized the difference between you and a human,” he stated and gave off no threats. I guess I could let this pass just until my wing is healed enough to leave.

“Alright, I guess that is fine with me.” Off to my eight o’clock position, someone mumbled ‘meanie’ like a child. William was off to my right and it wasn’t Sunstreaker since it would be extremely out of character. Was it Sides? It had to be. 

Sunstreaker wacked the bot next to him on the head, a loud metal on metal sound riveting into the air. “Hey! What was that for?!” ‘Sides’ whined and rubbed at the spot he was hit. The yellow Cybertronian didn’t say anything looked ready to tear the other into pieces. “You seem moodier than usual, what’s gotten you like this dear brother of mine?” If I was him, I wouldn’t be poking the bee’s nest.

Ratchet sighed, sounding fed up with their behavior before motioning for me to follow. “Come on. I need you too, Sunstreaker. You miss your appointment yesterday,” he ordered and began walking towards one of the big hangars. 

This caught ‘Sides’ attention and he nearly bounced on his wheels as he followed the CMO. “Come along, Sunny!” Those words made it sound like he was up to no good, William seemed to catch on as well. “Now, you can’t stop me from talking with her.” What did that mean?

“I don’t like his change in behavior,” William mumbled quietly to himself and shook his head. “Anyway, I’ll be back to sort a few things out with you. Good luck, you’ll be needing it.” With that, he turned and headed in the direction of the other over-sized hangars. 

I grumbled a little pissed off and heard the same noise emit from another. My eyes shot up to the yellow humanoid machine off to my left. Our eyes met, his irritation seemed to slowly dissipate. The tingling that idles in my chest sprung to life. I gritted my teeth at the bizarre feeling and marched after Ratchet.

These over-sized hangars seemed even larger on the inside than the outside. This one could house ten Cybertronians with plenty of room to spare. In this one, it was definitely set up as a hospital style for Ratchet to work.

Three semi huge metal tables sat at the back off to the left of the door, all evenly spaced from each other. They reminded me of a small hospital ward. More tables lined the wall to the right, this time they were pressed flush against it; long end up against the wall. Tools were neatly placed on the tables to the right, different than any normal human medical tools.

My eyes scanned for any danger, ready for it to pop its ugly face. 

The neon yellow robot picked up a tablet, his size, and paid the device attention. Subconscious, I went to touch the spot where my watch would be and cringed at it not being there. Mia must be throwing a fit, possibly contacting Zayden against my word. My suit was also gone; it had been damaged by Jasper and now a plain blue hospital gown covering my body with thin cloth pants hanging around my waist. 

Jacob was never very happy with me when the suit got damage. He would always have extras for me though after the first couple of times.

Ratchet finished with whatever he was reading and approached me. He lowered one of his hands down to the ground in front of me. “Step on. You’re wing isn’t healed enough for you to fly.” Knowing he was correct about that obvious fact, I timidly followed his command. Gently, he carried me over to the table off to the left side and sets me down on one.

“Please hold out your arm, palm facing up.” I did what he asked and watched as a tiny needle extended from the tip of his pointer finger. The CMO expertly inserted it into the soft scales at the bend of my arm. Luckily for him, the needle was strong enough to pierce my thick hide. 

When I was at Jasper, they always had to use thicker needles to be able to draw blood. Maybe it’s made of the metal he was made of.

Once he was satisfied with the amount he received, Ratchet pulled it out and the needle disappeared. “Now, just a scan and you’ll be fine until tomorrow.” A different kind of tingling ran through my body, like a scan. 

Surprise washed over his features before another scan surveyed me. What was he doing? His face morphed to confusion. He looked at the tablet and shook his head as if to dismiss a thought. “Thank you, Midnight. I sent word to William that you are free.”

When he finished his sentence, he moved away to deal with Sunstreaker; who had taken a seat at one of the three tables over here. 

‘Sides’ smirked as if his plan was working and slinked over to me. His elbows rested on each side of me as he leaned down with his face close to mine. The same foreign feeling slightly pulled towards him. The smirk on his face washed away and was replaced with bewilderment. I narrowed my eyes at him, ready to lunge if need be. “Ever heard of personal space,” I growled irritated, claws flexing at my sides.

He seemed to think about it before standing up to his full height to put space between us. “Can’t blame a mech for be curious. You’re so small. I can’t believe you took down seven Con’s and an estimated eighty human soldiers. Tell me your secrets oh great one,” he teased and allowed one of the corners of his mouth to tilt up.

“I’ll do it again if I have to get you away from me,” I threatened and took a step towards him to emphasize my point. He put both of his hands in front of him and motioned for me to calm down.

“No need for you be angry. I just wanted to come over here and introduce myself to you. I’m Sideswipe but you can call me Sides, the more handsome mech of the two of us. I also wanted to thank you for bring home Sunny. He may not seem to appreciate the kind gesture but I sure do.” Blood rushed to my cheeks for another thanking me for just doing my job.

I waved him off and scoffed to act like it didn’t matter to me. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just fulfilling my mission.”

Those words caught his attention and he leaned in slightly closer. “Mission? Sunny said you worked alone, though.”

“I do, I can appoint myself my own mission. Can’t I?” It’s not like you need a formal mission appointer to send you on your way.

“Yeah, yeah, I guess you can… So, what are you? I never heard or seen of your kind before. Which plant did you come from?” Great, that question that everyone seems to need to know. Why can’t people just stay to their side of the line and leave it alone.

“Draconic and I’m from Earth. The reason why you have never seen or heard of my kind is because I’m the only one of my kind. First and last to be clear,” I answered, voice evident with growing anger.

“Hey, you don’t know that. There might be another on Earth that you don’t know of.” Oh but I do. I rolled my eyes for the fifth time this day and heard footsteps approaching the hangar; both human and non human. Is William bringing another Cybertronian over here? How many are there of these guys?!

Just like clockwork. William and another Cybertronian stepped into the hangar. My mouth dropped at the sheer height of this robot. He looked to double the height of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. How was that possible? How big can they get?

I unfurled my wings, cringing at the soreness, before gently gliding down to the ground. My right wing nearly giving out due the muscles still damaged in them. William seemed surprised at my moments with an underlining look of fear. That would probably stick with him until I left. “Midnight! You aren’t supposed to be flying. What did I say?” Ratchet nearly shouted, anger evident in his voice.

“It was nothing. I just glided down. How else was I suppose to get down anyhow? There aren’t stairs a ladder,” I gave great counter arguments.

He pointed an accusing finger at me with a scowl on his face. “You ask. I helped you up, you could’ve asked me to help you down. Or Sid-actually, I wouldn’t trust him to do that.” I just shrugged my shoulders and strolled over to William and the largest robot of them all. “Next time you go against my medical judgment, you’ll be stuck in here until you are healed.” 

Ha, he acted like I was staying here. “Optimus, this is Midnight. Midnight, this is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots,” William introduced the two of us. 

What catch my eye first of his body color were the red flame decals spotting his chest. His secondary color a soft navy blue, it fitted well with the red/orange.

“Firstly, I must thank you for bringing home Annabelle and Sunstreaker. It is nice to meet you also.” His voice shocked me. It was a deep baritone pitch with a gently tone in it. A gently giant I’m guessing. Yet the tone suited him for his statute. Shoulders back, spine straight, and authority rolling off of him in waves. Another being not fearful of me. None of his kind seemed to be frightened of my appearance; a little more accepting than my own.

“Like I have repeated myself, just doing my job,” I responded and rested on my left leg as pain flared through my right side. “And before you ask like everyone else, I appoint myself these missions to go against Jasper.”

“Yes, Jasper. We share a common enemy. I heard that you could give us some information about them,” he stated with hope in his voice.

“I know a lot about them, a little too much in my opinion. I would be willing to share that information for something in return,” I negotiated.

“What would you like?” William fed into the offer.

“You don’t tell anyone of my presences here. No alerting your higher ups about me, nothing at all,” I stated and laid down the ground rules. If anyone besides him were to learning about me here, I would be whisked off to a secret lab to be poked and prodded at.

A mix of confusion and surprise washed over his features. “What’s wrong with that?”

“You humans don’t like beings like me. The moment they hear about something… not natural, they’ll take me to some place and open me to see how I tick. I’m surprised they haven’t done the same to these guys.”

“They did try once but it was a miscommunication,” Optimus spoke up.

“And you didn’t blast them into pieces?” That shocked me. Maybe his race was a bit kinder than I thought and Sunstreaker was just the bad egg.

“Of course not. Like I said, it was only a miscommunication,” Optimus sounded the slightest offended of my words. If it was me, whoever was aoccated of doing those acts, they would be six feet under in a heartbeat. No one messes with me and gets away with it. But I guess the two of us were wired different, possibly for a good thing.

“Anyway, that’s settled. I won’t tell anyone that you’re here and you’ll give what you know of Jasper to us. With that done, I’ll show you to your room. I’m glad I picked the furthest one from everyone,” Will picked up where we left off. Did he seriously think I was going to be sleeping where other humans were? Never in any of my years.

“No, I’m good sleeping in the forest.” The forest has served me as a home on multiple occasions. There was nothing wrong with use it again for that same reason.

“You aren’t leaving this base for security reasons. You don’t have enough trust to be even out of sight of any of us that know of you.” William crossed his arms to act, again, like he was the boss. 

“Then state somewhere, on base, of where you want to sleep.”

“You can use the Med. Bay if you would like Midnight,” Ratchet offered out of the blue. I nearly forget him and the other two were in here with us.

My eyes scanned over the massive hangar, spotting the rafters that would serve a good place to rest. Well, I’ll have to wait until my wing was healed enough for that kind of flight. “Sure, if it keeps me away from other humans.”

“What’s your problem with humans? You act like we are the spawn of Satan.”

“Because your kind is nasty, vile, horrible, and downright disgusting to be around. You hurt each other for power and greed; always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong; killing others because it’s fun; destroying everything around you, again for greed. That is why I despise humans. None of you are good, evil to the bone.” 

Everything was silent after that, besides the soft hums other machinery coming from the robots.

Optimus was the first to break the silence by fake coughing into his hand. “William and I are needed someplace else. If you need us for anything, Midnight, just come and find us. I hope your recovery is swift.” Wow, he sure does know how to clear the awkwardness after what I just said.

Then the two took their leave. I scoffed with a scowl on my face and turned to face the three behind me. Sideswipe was the only one with his eyes on me. “You got something to say overgrown toaster?” I snapped, annoyed that I was stuck here against my will. At least it better than being at Jasper.

He held up his hands in surrender with that stupid smirk etched into his face. I took roast in the corner closest to the door. My head rested against the cold metal, eyes half shut as exhaustion was eating away at my energy. Healing these two injuries was sapping up what energy I had left, making me feel tired; especially in front of three that I didn’t trust. Well one was slightly on the good side, but still attached to the fence.

Hopefully he was doing well, including Annabelle.


	9. Chapter 9

Noises snatched me from the peaceful and calm nap I slipped into after the two left. The tingling was noticeable quieter than usually: the first thing I was aware of once waking up. I opened my eyes groggily and saw sun light barely bleeding through the windows near the top of the hangar. Artificial light was slightly blocked out a large figure standing at one of the tables.

A cloth, more like a blanket, covered me from my shoulders down. That wasn’t put there by me, for sure. I scrambled to my feet, eyes scanning over everything around me for danger. My senses slowly waking up from their dormant rest. I grunted in pain from my hip being jarred but continued to search.

The sound of my movement seemed to catch the being’s attention and they turned around. Blue, glowing eyes latched onto my own. “Is everything okay?” Ratchet’s voice filtered into the air. 

Embarrassment burned at my cheeks. I was in no danger and reacted ridiculously to nothing. “Yes, I just forgot where I was,” I stated and tried to get him off of my case. What I said wasn’t entirely a lie or the whole truth.

How could’ve I let my guard down with him still here? Did he do something to me? Something internally told me no. Nothing about him or his behavior alerted me was dangerous; unlike me. “How are your injuries?” he questioned with genuine concern.

My defenses came in handy of him trying to get me to be relaxed around me. I opened my mouth to say a rude remark but closed it as regret flooded me. There was no reason to act ill-mannered. He has shown his kindness and poses no threat. “Fine, I guess. I just can’t wait to be out of here,” I said instead and gently kneaded the sore muscles in my right wing.

Ratchet dipped his head, understandment in his eyes. “I can tell, especially your distaste for humans. Yet, you seem so calm around us Autobots. Why?” he pressured, but not giving off threatening vibes. 

Curious at heart, or whatever they have. “Your kind seems to accept me more compared to my own. You show little to no fear for my appearance,” I answered with a shrug. “I can smell fear, and when I do, it makes me feel more on edge.”

“Humans have a… feeble perspective of things around them. All of the Autobots on base have seen many creatures, your draconic kind isn’t any different.” A great way to put it, if I do so myself. 

“I feel that we may get along for the short time I’m here,” I leisurely stated. My stomach grumbled lowly, hopefully only for me hear. I needed to eat something soon, or my energy would deplete too much for me to heal.

His metal brows furrowed together. “’Short time’? I thought you were going to help us destroy Jasper and possibly the Decepticons. It would only make sense. Your enemy has joined forces with ours.” He placed the tool in his hand down on the table behind, allowing his full attention to settle on this conversation.

Unfortunately, he was right about it making sense of joining his side. But his side works for the government. If word gets out about me, I’m done for. I may have powers, even I known when they weren’t enough. 

My stomach growled again, louder this time, blood rushing to my cheeks. Maybe he didn’t hear it or will choose to ignore it. “You may have good point but Jasper only wants me. If I stay away from others, I won’t get anyone hurt. Simple and easy. With the Decepticons, I don’t have any reason to be in the middle of disagreement with them.” 

“Optimus repeated the few things that you said to me from William.” Well then, you would understand why I have to be all by myself. “You’re at your weakest when alone. If you worked alongside us, Jasper can be taken down swiftly.” I hated when people were right about things but I was too stubborn to let him win.

“I’d rather not talk about this again. Since you heard what I said to William, you should understand why I must work alone.” Irritation was being to grow under my scales. People only want me around for my power. If it wasn’t them, Jasper or the Decepticons would be knocking at my door, wanting to control me.

All I wanted was simple: to be alone, away from everyone and everything. People always judge, no matter how much you try to deny that fact. If no one is around, then no one can judge me for being me.

He nodded and let go of the conversation. “Alright, you do have your reasons. I will warn you though about William, he’s going to be come back today to talk with you.” Lovely. 

The sun had risen past the tree’s, shining brightly down on Earth yet barely giving any heat on this chill morning. Chatter of the busy base could easily be heard inside the Med. Bay. 

Fear ate away at me internally at the thought of any of those humans seeing me. Pain struck deep in my heart. After years of being this monster, it still hurt that my own kind is afraid of my appearance. If only they knew the torment I endured to become the creature that parents tell their kids to be scared of.

Lennox has yet made his known appearance even at halfway through the day. Boredom began to overrun the fright the longer I had to sit/stand around doing nothing. If only my wing was up to being used. Wait, that gave me an idea.

I unfurled both wings and cringed in pain from the strain of muscles in both of them. Even grounded, I had to keep up on working with the muscles or they’ll weaken. My hip also flared from me putting a little weight on it to help me balance myself. Oh, boy, this was going to be a blast.

The hooks on my wings meant for climbing latched onto the metal horizontal beams supporting the hangar walls. Pain flared immediately in the right wing. I pushed through and leaned back, stretching out all the strained muscles. 

Luckily, the CMO isn’t in here to use his medical judgment so he couldn’t yell at me for doing this. Like how I glided down from the tables. It was only an eight or nine foot drop.

After easing out all of the knots, I took a risk that may aid me in the end. My wing trembled slightly under my weight as I climbed up towards the rafters: my goal of this risk.

My hand slipped, gravity drawing me down to the ground. The wing hooks caught me, pulling all the muscles taunt and causing a cry to escape my lips. “Ouch,” I grumbled lowly and decided to stop before I really hurt myself. I glided down to the ground just in time as Ratchet’s robotic frame entered the hangar.

To act innocent, I began stretching out the same muscles I just pulled. What caught my eye is he was carrying something in his hands, just out of sight from my spot on the ground. “Afternoon, Midnight. I brought you your lunch.” The announcement of food caused my stomach to rumble, loudly I must note.

Ratchet lowered his hand once he reached where I stood. A small plastic plate sat in the middle of hand, a milk carton next to it. On the plate held spaghetti and green peas, something I would actually enjoy. I took it gratefully with a kind smile on my lips and thanked him. He only hummed before returning to the table he was originally working at.

I sat down on the concrete, back against the metal wall, wings splayed out relaxed. The plate rested on my legs as I slowly took bites, savoring the great taste. It maybe military food but to me, it was good after either starving for days on end or eating raw, plain food from stores.

“You need to eat more. Your metabolism is much higher than a human. What I have calculated, you have to consume at least five thousand calories a day. I’ll have the kitchen make some small dishes you can eat throughout the day. Healthy dishes. None of that junk food you humans have,” Ratchet spoke up as I was halfway through my food.

“I already knew that but when you’re hiding from others, it’s kind of hard to eat that much,” I stated and took another bite of the noodles in front of me. 

The same tingling feeling trickled timidly to life. It only seemed to be very noticeable is when Sunstreaker was around and he was nowhere in sight. I rubbed, annoyed, at the spot and glared at the floor. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah.” I contemplated telling him what happened to have that happen. “Sunstreaker shocked me when I put his hip thingy back into place. Now a weird buzz sits in the middle of my chest. Can your kind have a weird effect on humans like that?” Or it was just pent up electricity since he is made of metal. If you thought about it, it made sense.

Bewilderment was written all over his face. “He shocked you and now you have a buzzing feeling?” I nodded my head to answer his question. “Hmm, what does this buzzing feeling do?” What kind of question is that?

Unease grew in the pit of my stomach at his question. The feeling was already extremely foreign, yet doesn’t hold a dangerous vibe to it. All in all, whatever it was confused and scared me. “Uh, I guess it’ll… become more noticeable like a minute ago. Is it dangerous?”

Nothing came from his lips. His silence only caused the dread to grow. “That I don’t know for sure. I’ll have to look through some research to figure out what is happening. But I may have an idea.” Then he turned his head towards the entrance of the Med. Bay. Someone was coming.

I got to my feet after placing the tray on the ground and watched as William entered. Yet, he wasn’t alone this time. A familiar young human limped next to him, the brightest smile ever known to man on her lips. Her eyes scanned the room until they found me, the corners of her mouth somehow tilting up more. “Midnight!” her voice scarred out over the hangar.

Anna released her hold on William before rushing over to me, her leg dragging giving the girl trouble. Lennox shook his head in disbelief but did nothing to stop his daughter. 

When she reached me, I kneeled down and wrapped my arms tightly around her small body. Her own encased me tightly and she buried her face in the crook of my neck. Drops of water could be felt on the softer scales. “The doctors said you weren’t waking up. Sunny and I were worried, really worried for you,” she cried. I understood her being concerned but the overgrown toast was as well? As if, I would have to hear it myself.

To sooth her crying, I gently rubbed the heel of my hand along her spine. Her hiccups died a minute later and she released me from her grasp. Instead, she grabbed my face and pressed her forehead against mine. Cute. “Never do that again! Sunny told you come with us and this is what happened. I hope you learned your lesson.” Lesson? Protecting her from evil was a lesson?

William decided to speak up after a few moments of his daughter doing her thing. “Annabelle, let the c-Midnight-“ I narrowed my eyes dangerously at him for that slip up-“ go. I said you could see her not hug or touch her.” Still edge I guess. It doesn’t matter, the second my wing is healed, I’m out.

Everyone’s eyes were trained on me, including the kid. Whoops, did I say that out loud? “You aren’t going anywhere. And I’m not on edge, I’m just being cautious on something that isn’t human,” William tried to make up silly excuses.

My eyes peered over to Ratchet, a knowing look on my features. “I told you so. I help others and still get judge for being me.” I changed my gaze to the man a good thirty feet away from us. “Just to let you know, I wasn’t born this way.”

“You aren’t human, that’s why I act cautious around you.” He flew over my last sentence without another thought.

A chuckled rumbled deep in my chest. “You think I don’t know that I’m not human. I helped you without you even knowing or asking. Can’t I get a little respect? Is it so hard to respect a monster?” I nearly growled and returned to my full height. Anna slipped her hand in mine, drawing me away from an angered state.

The kid tugged to get my attention. “You aren’t a monster. And daddy, don’t be rude to her. I wouldn’t be here if it was for her,” Anna defended me and stood tall, not backing down.

Sparks flickered in William’s eyes. “Yes, I know that. I’m constantly reminded but she isn’t… normal.” Anna continued her strong streak, eyes staring right at her father. It was enough to crack his façade and he sighed, irritation clear. “Fine, alright! Stop looking at me like that.” The kid cheered happily next to me and lifted her arms up towards the sky. “Ugh, wait until your mom hears about this. She is going to have a cow.”

But Anna disagreed with this statement. “Mama likes the supernatural. She’ll adore Midnight. I bet ice cream on that statement!” William’s behavior changed completely.

He laughed and shook his head. “As if you need any more sugar, child of mine. But I doubt she’ll even meet Midnight since she keeps stating she’s leaving.” Now he was trying to get the kid to turn on me, sneaky son of a-.

“What?!” Sadness filled her voice and she peered up at me, brows furrowed softly. “You aren’t leaving, right? I told you me and Sunny will protect you.” Anna wrapped her arms around my mid-section and held on for dear life. I had to stop the grunt from her accidently touching the wound.

“I’m sorry kid, but you know the reason. For the time being, I’ll be staying here until my wing is healed and then I’m gone,” I stated and placed a hand on her head.

“No, I’m not letting you leave! You’re safer here than out there.” That was a great counter argument. My resolve slowly melting away the long she glared at me with those big, innocent eyes.

I sighed, crumbling under the sheer weight. “I told you so, Midnight. We can join forces of defeat both Jasper and the Decepticons,” Ratchet decided to in put his earlier words. 

“Fine! Okay, I’ll stay. There you happy, kid? Jeez, you got a monster wrapped around your finger,” I mumbled that last part to myself. Anna jumped excitedly on her good leg after releasing my waist from her hold. “That was all an act, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yeah. I learned that from Sides.” Damn kid.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That ball is tumbling just a bit faster...

Look at this. A chapter. Ehm, I don’t know what you guys mean that I nearly forgot yo update my books…

Anna sat content in my lap, eyes glued on the massive T.V in front of her. Sponge Bob, a kid’s T.V show, was playing and entertaining the kid. Every so often, she would giggle at something from whatever happened or what a character said. 

One hand holding mine while the other was elbow deep in a Cheeto’s bag; she had pulled it out from a secret spot within this huge hangar. The kid stuck a few more of the orange, weirdly shaped sticks into her mouth. Everything she touched got covered in the orange dust that coated the snack. “Nighty?” she called and drew me out from my thoughts. 

That stupid, degrading name she has decided to start calling me. By the gods, if Mia or Jacob ever heard her call me that, I would never hear the last of it.

I shook my head to get rid any foul flashbacks and hummed to let her know I’m listening. The kid took out another Cheeto stick from the bag and held it towards my face. “You want one?” I thought about it. Junk food did hold high calories and Ratchet did want me to eat more even though he did say no unhealthy food. 

The smell wavered up to my nose. To me, the Cheeto stick smelled okay and didn’t seem dangerous. Well, the kid was inhaling them and wasn’t having any bad side effects. I gently bit the Cheeto in her hand and ran my tongue against the soft bumps. The taste was something I have never had before but it was good. I quickly ate the rest and licked my chomps hungry for more. “Did you like it?”

“Yes, I did. T-thank you,” I fumbled over showing my gratitude. Anna danced happily in her spot and held up two more Cheeto’s for me to consume. My teeth easily shredded the soft sticks she handed me. 

My hunger only increased once we finished off the bag but I couldn’t go out to eat anyway. No other human besides Anna and William know of me. Ratchet did say he was going to have the kitchen make ‘snack bags’ that have high calories for me to eat every day.

He and the other Autobots that I have met are strange, including Sunstreaker. All four seem so relaxed and unfazed at my appearance. An alien race accepts me for being me compared to my own kind.

A pang of hurt zipped through me. It has been years as this… thing, why does it still hurt? The extremely familiar words popped up in my head, nearly being screamed at me. I flinched at the words. Only a monster to live on in this world until the day of death comes for me.

The kid squeezed my hand, snapping me out of my thoughts again. Her big, green, doe eyes peered up at me. Concern evident on her face, an emotion she has been using a lot with me. “Are you okay?” Her voice is soft, caring even.

Words were stuck in my throat. Her tone reminded me of a kindhearted parent who was concerned for you and your wellbeing. Tears welled up in my eyes, threatening to fall. “Yeah, of course. My hip is just doing its normal hurting thing,” I lied swiftly and didn’t even try. The kid was only seven, as if she could figure out that I was lying.

Her eyes narrowed. She turned around to face me and gently wiped the stray tear that fell. “Is there anything I can do to help? I can go get Hatch if you want,” Anna offered and sat down on her calves.

“No, I’m good. There’s nothing he can do to help me.” Luckily, this got her to settle back down in her original spot, eyes now trained on the T.V still playing Sponge Bob. My hip was bothering me a little but not as much as she thought, same with my wing. In a couple of days, I would be off, never to be seen by them again. Yes, I did say I was going to stay but that only another lie.

If only she knew, if only everyone who judged me without knowing what I have been through. They’re so quick to judge before knowing the back story of a person.

While relaxing with the kid still in my lap, a familiar tug pulled my gaze up towards the door. Tires rolling over gravel caught my attention yet none of it held a dangerous vibe. To me, it sounded like Sunstreaker’s wheels but that buzz would have told me it was him. So who else was-Sideswipe’s head peered into hanger. 

His striking glowing, blue eyes locked onto mine. Another tug drew a small gasp from my lips, pulling in his direction… again. What does this weird feeling have to do with him? His brother was the one to shock me.

Sideswipes face morphed into confusion the moment after. His hand rested on his chest, the same place the feeling has settled in my own. It didn’t take longer than five seconds for him to shake it off and stroll into the hangar like he owned it. “Wassup, Anna and Nighty?” he greeted and sat down on the couch his size to the left of the door.

I scowled at him for calling me that ridiculous name but didn’t do anything rash. “Nothing much, double dutch. What about you? And where is Sunny?” she replied, not taking her eyes off of the show.

“Oh, you know, waiting for the perfect moment to prank Prowler. For Sunny, he’s on patrol. The moment after Ratchet let him off of rest, Prowler put him on patrol. As much as the stick in the mud thinks we’re worse when together, he is not completely right.” Pranks? The two must be opposites then due to Sunstreaker’s attitude towards me.

Anna sighed and shook her head in disappointment. You and me both, kid. “That’s just going to get you sent to brig. I thought you wanna hang with your favorite human.” The tone of voice turned to one of guilt tripping him. The same thing she did to me about asking for me to stay. 

Her voice worked magic on Sideswipe as guilt welled up in his eyes and they flickered over to   
me. A smirk was plastered over my face as his resolved crumbled, just like how mine did. “I do, I do, Anna. Primus, I won’t, okay.” He held up his hands in surrender.

For some odd reason, I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his, as if they were glued. He didn’t feel dangerous, quite the opposite. It had to do something with his kind, that had to be the reason. That thought didn’t settle well in my stomach. That was the only good reason I could come up with besides ridiculous ideas.

Another pull towards him caused all of my muscles to tense. A loud growl started deep in my chest as my eyes narrowed dangerously at him. What is he doing? It was him, I knew that because of the three times it’s done this and it was towards him.

His brows furrowed as our eyes continued to bore into the other. “Nighty? What’s wrong?” Anna’s voice drew me out of that stuck state. I huffed a plume of smoke and let my gaze settle on the T.V, not paying it one lick of attention. The only answer she got was a gruff nothing.

“Hey, Midnight? Could I talk to you real quick?” Sideswipe spoke up after a few short minutes of no conversations. Oh, now he decides to use that name fully. 

I grumbled under my breath some crude words directed at him and stood up. Curiosity was eating me up on the inside, but I would never let him know that. Why did he need to talk with me? “I’m good,” I mumbled and refused to move.

Sideswipe hardened his gaze in the slightest. “Please, Midnight.” Something underlined his voice.   
The pull happened once more, again right at him. His gaze softened the moment after. Did he feel it too? Is that why he wanted to talk with me?

“Fine.” I got up carefully and lightly limped over to him, eyes trained on him if he tried to do anything. Sideswipe got off of the couch and lead me outside. 

The sun felt good on my scales, warming up the blood underneath. Clouds blotted the sky, not enough to block out the sun. A gentle breeze ruffled my long, black hair.

He sat down on his haunches and balanced himself extremely well. “First off, I wanted to thank you again for bringing Sunstreaker. Second of all… do you feel anything towards me or my brother?” 

“What kind of question is that? I only met you yesterday. For your brother, I only respect him to a degree. He was still rude to me so you can’t blame me.” To throw him off as I think of whether or not to tell him. He didn’t feel dangerous at all and instead, had a calming presences to him. I decided to go with my instinct, it has kept me alive and semi safe this far.

“Whoa, no reason to get worked up.” He held up his hands in surrender and rolled back slightly. “I was just wondering.”

A sigh escaped me. “What is it to you?” I bit back and peered down at the dirt ground below. My eyes studied the ground as I waited for his response. What did it mean since I kind of do? But this ‘pull’ is different than the buzzing, so what is it? 

From my limited vision, I could see him perk up on his wheels and moved timidly closer to me. “Nothing.” My brows furrowed in confusion as I stared up at him. Then why did he ask that question in the first place?! “What I mean is nothing at the moment. It could blossom into something beautiful.”

Stupid robot not giving me a clear answer. “Are you saying that the pull is… romantic?” Fear underlined the anger in my voice as I tried to act like the boss. I couldn’t show what was happening scared me or he could take advantage of that. 

Anyone around me gets killed. Even though I barely know the bot, I couldn’t have the guilt on my shoulders of his death.

Skepticalism washed over his face. “Well, I don’t have an answer for you. Ratchet would have to look into it.” Too late for that, I already told him that.

“Whatever it is can’t happen,” I stated and crossed my arms firmly. “Once my wing is healed enough, I’m gone with the wind bull’s eye.”

“But you said you were going to stay, Nighty.” That voice caused panic to arise inside of me. My eyes darted over to the source and dread boiled deep. Anna stood there, arms hugging herself to hold as much heat as she cold. Pain evident in her eyes as tears threatened to fall. Her lip quivered , completing the whole emotion of sadness.

Anna didn’t give me a chance to get a word in as she raced off towards another hangar, her leg still giving her trouble. A place I could not go in fear of humans seeing me. “Anna, wait!” I called out and reached with my hand as if I could stop her fleeing frame. Her actions had hurt me but I understood them as well. She had the idea that I put there I was going to stay.

I dropped that hand weakly and bowed my head. It was for the best, my mind repeated. “I thought you were going to stay?” Sideswipe spoke up.

Anger filled my voice with fear trickling in too. “I can’t, Sideswipe. I put everyone around me in danger. Including the little girl that just ran off. It doesn’t matter, I hurt everything around me. She was no different.” This was internal agony. I get attach to people really quick, waiting nothing to protect them even though I will have to leave.

“Jasper is still going to go after us since they have teamed up with the Cons. You being here or not isn’t going to change that. It would be helpful if you were. We don’t know what we are going against and you’re the only one that can tell us. We’re just running into this battle blind.” A great metaphor used by an alien.

Surprisingly enough, he remembered my reason. The tug happened again, drawing my gaze up to the robot slightly towering over me. It seemed to have done the same to him. Whatever it was, soothed my fear and silently reassured me. So did the buzz, just sitting there with a calming sense. 

No matter how much fright built, both the pull and buzz pacify me. It even kept my water/ice powers at bay as those are connected to fear.   
It was a never ending process of a constant battle of ease and terror within.

Sideswipe reached out timidly and brushed his pointer finger against the top of my head. A life changing shock zapped the daylights out of me. I reacted by taking to the sky, my right wing having trouble due to the taunt muscles. “What’s with your kind and shocking me?!” I hissed and glared daggers down at him.

The same tingling feeling ran down my spine to settle in the same place as the other. Both tingling/buzzing were the same but not if you understand. It stood out clear as day and grew more in the slightest as Sideswipe stood up. What did he do? What did his brother do to me?!

“Whoa-whoa. Hey it’s okay. That was very… weird.” No shit Sherlock. I patted worryingly at myself to check or any injuries. The only thing was that was hurting was my wing. Which was somehow holding up. “Wait, what do you mean by that question?”

“Your stupid brother shocked me when I was trying to help him. The only one that hasn’t shocked me is Ratchet and the Optimus Prime dude. You idiotic, over grown, kaput toaster!” With that pull no longer there to maintain my terror, it was released to my hold.

Energy rushed to my finger tips and my senses took note to the water pipes running underground close to us. Not entirely good. Heat burned lightly underneath my scales, ready to be used at a whim.

His face morphed into confusion as he took in the new information. I tried to stay up in the sky but my wing couldn’t bare the weight anymore and forced me to land. “Sunny shocked you, too?” 

My extra appendages folded neat behind my back. “Yes, I said that,” I grumbled with a glare towards the ground once again. Excitement seemed to bubble up inside of him as a smile grew on his features. What was he planning?

“Now, you definitely can’t leave! And Sunny didn’t want me talking to you but now he can’t stop me. Perfect!” Again with that stuff where the thought they could keep me here against my will. I would love to see them try their hardest. None of them could stop me, I’m great at fleeing if need be.

“What is that suppose to mean?” My fright and rage slowly trickled away as I timidly calmed.

“Have you told Ratchet?” He completely ignored my question and threw one back. I nodded a little unsure of where this is going. “Has he told you anything?” I shook my head, still on edge of where this was going. “Well, since he knows of Sunny shocking you, he’s definitely going to make you stay so he can figure out what happened.”

I could help the bark laugh that escaped. “As if he could keep me here! If I wanted to right now, I could leave without another thought.” Well, my wing and hip wasn’t entirely healed enough but wouldn’t stop me from escaping. I’ve been in worse conditions and still made it out from captivity. 

A smug smirk grew on his face as he bent down. “Then why haven’t you?” My confidence washed away within a snap of fingers. I thought for a snarky response but couldn’t for the life of me think up one. Why haven’t I left? I don’t belong here… I don’t belong anywhere.

He knocked his pointer finger into my shoulder to shake me from my thoughts. “You do belong here. Yeah, the humans are scared of you but they’re scaredy cats. What do you expect? They’re afraid of their own shadows so don’t take it to spark.” His words hit home. Yet he doesn’t know that humans are my race and that’s why it hurts.

“Now, come on. We need to go find Anna so you can tell her you’re staying.” He used his finger again to push me towards the other hangars. I stuttered over my words to disagree with him but the red robot wasn’t having it. “Nope, we’re going over to the Main Hangar and finding her.”

Sideswipe lead me over to the biggest hangar of them all. Any human we passed stared without an ounce of decadency. I resorted to my normal attitude of strutting with my head held high. Their actions did hurt. As a monster, I had to show that it didn’t bother me at all, at least on the outside.

I quickly found Anna sitting at a table with her head down. William kneeled next to her, rubbing her back to soothe her. She clearly was crying and that struck an already injured nerve.

My wings instinctively unfurled and carried me over to the catwalk she and William where on. The talons on my feet clamped down on the railing as I stayed my distance.

Humans could be heard gasping or staring in fear as my frame glided over them. I paid them no mind and focused on Anna a good few feet away. William was the first to notice my appearance and narrowed his eyes to seem scary. “How dare you hurt Anna?!” he nearly screamed at me and marched over to me.

“Just shut your mouth, William. I’m not here to talk with you.” I jumped off of the railing and pushed pass the soldier. He stood there for a moment in shock before shaking it off and roughly grabbing my shoulder. I shrugged him off easily and knelt down next to Anna. Her hiccups and sobs broke my nonexistent heart. “Anna, I’m sorry. I did not mean those words. I promise you, I’m staying.”

Saying sorry felt like a sin to me. In any of my years, I had barely apologized as my humanity has been stripped from me. My words caught her attention and she timidly glanced up at me. “Are you really or are you lying again?” she ground out. I flinched harshly at her questions but knew I deserved it. Treat others how you want to be treated.

A thought came to mind. I held out my pinkie with a hopefully smile. “I pinkie promise.” That caused her façade to break and a smile graced her lips. Anna wrapped her own around mine and we shook on it. 

“You better not pull something like that again or I’ll have Hidey go after you.” I stared at her in confusion on this ‘Hidey’ person.

“Who is ‘Hidey’?” 

“That is me.” A large, black robot stepped up to the catwalk, just barely towering over us. Two huge cannons sat on both of his arms, the barrels slightly whirling. His eyes were the same as the other Cybertronians on base: blue. 

This robot held an aura of power and protectiveness. Kind of like Sunstreaker. Maybe I’ll come to respect him. “She doesn’t have to send me. I hear word that you hurt her again, I’ll blow you into smithereens without another thought,” he declared and leaned down to act intimidating. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he was in the tiny bit scary.

“You won’t have to. I’ll kick my own ass if I do,” I responded and dipped my head. He snorted quietly. Oh, yeah, we’ll get along just fine.

Anna wrapped her arms around my waist and peered over to her dad. “Can we go back to the Rec. room? I wanna watch some more Sponge Bob.” William sighed and hesitantly nodded his head. 

The little girl cheered happily and dragged me over to the railing. “Sides, take us away!” Huh? Without letting me get a word in, Sideswipe scooped the two of us off the catwalk. I gripped tightly to his hand and chest plating from the quick motion.

My left hand buzzed with high amounts of energy from being in contact with his chest. I glanced up at Sideswipe for his reaction. A smug smirk was plastered over his face. 

The energy wasn’t the kind I knew of though and didn’t classify as heat/cool or water energy. I released the hold and felt as the tingling ran from my hand to the center of my chest. It resided there with its buddy. This one was much more noticeable. Probably because I was right next to Sideswipe. The other one would do the same if Sunstreaker was nearby.

I stared in bewilderment and confusion at my hands. Thoughts whipped around inside of my head as I thought about what this could be. Everything might have gotten even more complicated.


	11. Chapter 11

Irritation grew underneath my scales at the situation that William forced me to part take in. Three of those Cybertronians stood at the end of a medium sized table, human sized. One of them was Optimus, the others I had no clue who they were. Both were shorter than the largest, so far, bot here on base and standing off to his left.

The middle-‘man’ looked somewhat familiar to Barricade and put me on edge because of that. Same color scheme, same cop style look. It stood there, arms crossed with a stoic expression with unnerving blue eyes boring into mine. This one looked to be a good five or so feet shorter than Optimus but still held an authority aura around it.

Next to it lounged a much smaller bot. A blue visor covered where its eyes would be. That didn’t stop me from feeling its gaze observing my body. This one was different, it held itself with ease and a casual aura surrounding it. 

For humans, there was only William and a dark-skinned man sitting side-by-side. My gazed flickered between all of them; including the ones I partially knew. I, myself, sat farthest from the door for ‘safety precautions’. Lennox still thought he could keep me contained in a hangar.

My talons grazed lightly on the table to keep me occupied until one of them speaks up. What were they waiting for? A party? For it to snow? For Hell to freeze over? Like, come on. You interrupt my tiny nap session just to drag me here and sit in silence. Good to know what our military likes to do.

Hot energy raced inside of me to the tips of my fingers, wanting to be released. I scoffed under my breath and glared daggers at William for this. He, in return, furrowed his brows and glanced at his friend for help. Said buddy only shrug his shoulders, both not understanding how irritating this is. Could someone for the life of them speak up? 

As if Optimus gave a signal, William finally broke the silence. “Midnight, I understand you are a little…” he took a moment to try and find a fit enough word, “mad.” Such a simple word for how I’m feeling. “But we did have an agreement for a meeting and to ask questions about Jasper.” Ah, yes, now this makes some sense.

To allow the others in the room some ease, I leaned back in my chair, a small sign of vulnerability. He also took this as a sign to continue. “What is Jasper’s main objective?” 

I ‘tch’ed from him asking such a stupid question. “Answer that yourself, genius. What does every bad person or team want?” I threw back, growing more annoyed of this ridiculous situation. Everyone in the hangar seemed taken aback by my ‘rude’ words but made no attempt to correct me.

“Right, power and world domination. What do they… do?” I flinched lightly at his question and stared down at the table.

A lump formed in my throat, making it nearly impossible for me to speak. Screams echoed inside of my head. My hand curled into a fist to stop me from making any rash acts. I cleared my throat but didn’t have it in me to look anyone in the eye. “Kidnap or buy kids off the black market… to train them as their own soldiers. To have them follow their every command without hesitation. To turn them into something they are not, unable to return to their families ever again.” My voice slowly hardened the more I talked.

Everyone in the hangar stared at me in confusion. Optimus did look like he understood and gave me a pitied expression. “Who, uh, who leads Jasper?”

My entire body tensed in reaction. Fear overridden the anger as I took note of every escape root if need be. More flashbacks sprung to life inside of my head. Nervously, my tail twitched unable to contain my terror of the leaders of Jasper and what they had done to me. “Cyrus an-and… Rue Reed,” is all I could get out.

William caught onto my fear but didn’t seem like he understood why. “Cyrus Joseph Reed, thirty seven years old, male. Rue May Reed, fifty-one years old, female. Married to each other. Current location unknown. Rue has a son, Jeremy Dragna, and a presumed dead daughter, Azar Dragna. Rue used to be married to Zayden Dragna. Current location is in Bent, Oregon,” the police bot spoke up.

At the mention of Jeremy and Azar, I flinched a little bit more noticeable. My talons dug into the metal table, creating small incisions. “I told you about Aztec, William. Zayden Dragna is the leader and founder of Aztec,” I stated and curled my hand into a fist.

“Wait a minute. Rue leads Jasper and Zayden leads Aztec… Their war is very personal. I’m guessing you knew both Jeremy and Azar,” the man next to William put the pieces together. 

“Personally.” More like blood personally. “They are fighting over their presumed dead daughter, Azar,” I was giving out huge spoilers. If they were smart enough, they would figure out it was me.

The smallest bot of them all finally decided to speak up. “Why would they want her?”

A light bulb could be seen over Optimus’ head. “Because Azar is in this room with us.” The Autobots leader words confused everyone besides myself. Would they get it now? 

It took a good minute of glancing between each other before the dark-skinned man locked his eyes with mine. “You’re Azar. Your parents are fighting over you and your power. That’s why you’re presumed dead because no one has seen you. How? How are you like this?” He gesture at my form.

At his statement, William and the nameless robots stared at him. “Rue brought me to Jasper. She allowed for me to be tortured and changed to be this thing. Zayden later learned of my disappearance and alerted the police. When they failed, he step forward built Aztec in hope to defeat Jasper and bring home his daughter. He was too late.”

Short memories flashed behind my eyelids when I blinked. I stood up, unable to stay in one spot for much longer. My talons clicked against the concrete flooring, the only noise until I broke the semi-silence. “They had altered her DNA to something of myths. They weren’t done though. Jasper continued changing her, giving her the ability to shapeshift, create fire or water at her whim. Then once satisfied with what they created, sent her out to kill. They just created the greatest killing machine to ever walk upon the earth.”

William took it upon himself to speak after. “Never judge a book by its cover.” I chuckled lowly at his words and met his eyes with my own. “I-I didn’t k-“ I held up my fist to stop him from speaking and knew what he was going to say.

“Zip it, your ignorance of not knowing shouldn’t have drove you to be rude towards me. To ease you all on the edge, I’m not like that anymore. My hand was being controlled… fear drives people to do things unlike them. I will work peacefully alongside the military and Autobots if you promise to not let anyone outside of this base know of me.”

The soldier nodded his head. “I agree to your terms.” He held out his hand for me to shake. I gingerly take a hold of the appendage and we shook on it. “Is it okay if I call you Azar or do you still want to go by Midnight?”

It did not entirely matter to me to be called Azar, I only made up a name just in case. If I had gone through with leaving, Anna would have told her father about me. Azar isn’t necessarily a popular name and could probably been easy to find the real me. Now, though, it didn’t matter. They knew of the bare minimal of my past.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” I answered and released my hold on his hand. “One thing though. I need a bit of a introduction to those two-“ I gestured up to the nameless robots-“ and him-“ I motioned towards the man next to him-“ and any other important people or being’s on base.”

After our discussion, I felt a little more at ease with him and let a relaxed smile rest on my face. “Oh right. This here is Robert Epps, my right hand man.” When his name was mentioned, he dipped his head. “Prowl is the second in command of the Autobots-“ he pointed at the police style robot.” Jazz is the third in command-“ he indicated up to the visored robot.

“For the others, Optimus will have to set up a meeting for you to meet them. I will send out a message to everyone on base so they don’t freak out about your presences.”

Once finished, we dispersed and went our own ways. I took to the skies and flew over to the Med. Bay, a place I would call my second home. Ratchet had welcomed me, allowed me to take refuge under his own home, and made sure I was healing. I definitely respected him for his acts and somewhat followed his commands. 

When I entered the hangar, I half-expected him to be in here but only found Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. The former was tinkering around with the medic’s tools. The latter was leaning over his brother, watching what Sideswipe was doing.

The buzz made sure I was aware of its presences and hummed annoyingly behind my sternum. I rubbed with the heel of my hand furiously at buzz’s origin. My actions did nothing to calm the feeling.

In return, it alerted the two to my presences. Both twirled around on their wheels quickly and faced me. A smile brightened up Sideswipe’s features as he moved to and left behind what he was messing with. “Hey, Nighty. You’re already done with your meeting?” How did he know about that? Ratchet was the only one out of the group that knew.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him and flew a couple of inches to the side. Sunstreaker had replaced where his brother was, back facing me with his hands moving around. Sideswipe slid over to block my sight of the yellow bot with a nervous smile. “So, I see you’re flying now. Does your wing bother you?” He attempted to get my attention away from what Sunstreaker was doing.

“What are you two doing?” I questioned and crossed my arms, a hardened glare set on him.  
Sideswipe glanced back at his twin as the gears in his head rotated as he tried think up an excuse. I could tell they weren’t supposed to be in here by the way they were acting. “Looking for… our data pad! We gave it to Ratchet for him to borrow.” His lying wasn’t as slick as he thought.

His brother turned around and presented a large tablet. “Well, you got it so, you can leave.” I moved to the side and swung my arm towards the open hangar door. 

A look of hurt passed over both of their features. Sunstreaker was the first to move out of the hangar, still holding the tablet in his hand. My stomach flipped when he got close to me, causing me to lose a beat of my wings. I growled under my breath in reaction and set a glare on him as well.

The red bot timidly moved after his twin, eyes staring into mine until the wall blocked his view. When he got close to me like Sunstreaker, my stomach rolled again and this time fluttered the longer he was nearby. The buzzing rattled behind my sternum. In reaction, I rubbed angrily at the spot and felt his gaze on me again. “Are you okay?” he questioned and nervous reached his hand out towards me.

“Yes, now leave,” I grounded out and narrowed my eyes, the heel of my hand still pressed against my chest. His hurt filled expression came back and he solemnly left the Med. Bay. Stupid robots.

Once both were gone, I glided over to my spot in one of the corners. A couple blankets were piled as my bed for the two times I was able to sleep while here. The buzzing slowly calmed down the longer I was away from the two but the red, irritated scales stayed. 

What is it with those two? Ratchet hasn’t shocked me nor did a weird feeling start when around him. Sunstreaker started something and his twin joined in for the ‘fun’, I guess. Annoyed, I pushed the heel of my hands into my eye sockets. 

A yawn interrupted my peaceful sitting. I needed another nap. But after Lennox waking me up, I didn’t know if I could fall asleep again. It was hard for me to sleep in general. Especially on a busy, human infested base like this. Which included the loud, clunky robots that free roam almost anywhere.

Also, I was use to sleeping alone which made me feel safe. With no one around, there is no threat. Luckily for me, Ratchet had a calming aura around him and has shown that he means no harm. Instead, he has helped me, made sure I was eating what my body needed, and cleaned my wounds. Yes, he’s a medic and is suspected to do those things but something about him eased my anxious nerves. Hmmm.

Speak of the devil, the neon yellow/green bot strolled into the hangar, a tablet in his hand. Without even looking up to make sure he wasn’t going to run into anything, he stopped in front of his work station; the place where the twins were messing with. 

His back was to me so I couldn’t see his expression. By the way his fist curled, he was clearly angry with what they did. “Sideswipe, Sunstreaker!” the bot shouted at the top of his lungs. Did they have lungs? I have no clue.

I curled up into a ball at his incredibly loud voice, terror running through my veins. Cold energy raced to my fingers in reaction of my fright. A whimper escaper my throat as tears threatened to fall. I wasn’t fond of any loud noises.

My heart pounded hard against my chest, overwhelming me instant. “Midnight?” Ratchet’s voice could barely be heard. “Slag.” I couldn’t help as a flashback became my main focus.

“Again! We’ll keep at this until you get to the top,” an all too familiar voice spat with disgust. My arms trembled as I attempted to get to my feet, again. It wasn’t quick enough for her. A sharp boot connected with my side. My body went with the kick and landed on my opposite side. I gasped in pain and shock as I tried to gather what bearings I had left.

“Get up! You won’t stop until I tell you, Azar.” I shudder at my name being used and couldn’t stop the tears pouring down my cheeks. Her cold hand wrapped around my neck. With ease, she lifted me off the ground and held me up. “You piece of shit. You’re lucky Cyrus has taken a liking to you or you would’ve been dead months ago.”

Weakly, I clawed at her hands to get them off. My actions only made her tightened her hold. The inky darkness of the void began to close in on my vision. Her brown, nearly black, eyes bored into mine, disgust and rage clearly evident; and all of it was pointed at me. “You know you’re pathetic but you’re all we have. If your brother was here, he would be excelling unlike you,” her honeyed voice filtered into the air.

A tremble racked my body at the thought of my brother going through all of this. Yet, it caused my motivation to surge forth once more. I had to fight for him, I had to fight for Jeremy.  
The darkness continued to close in. I began to lose feeling in any of my limbs from the lack of oxygen. With the renewed motivation, I lazily kicked out my foot and hit her in the knee. She grunted at the attack but didn’t seem injured because of it. 

No! my mind shouted at me as nothing could be done. 

As if she was satisfied with her work, she dropped me to the floor. My body flopped as blood rushed back to my head. I gasped hard to get in needed oxygen and coughed until blood could be tasted. But that little strangulation session didn’t end my training. “Again, Azar! You aren’t done,” her voice hardened.

I scrambled nauseously to my feet and focused on my training partner: Rue. Oh, how kind of my mother to teach me to kill for sport.

My eyes snapped open as I stumbled disorientated and found a wall to steady myself. Bile threatened to spill from my lips but I fought against the feeling and focused on the dull grey flooring. 

Beyond freezing energy wanted out, a side effect of flashbacks. I forced the energy to subdue and settle back down for the time being. It was agony hold that much power inside with no outlet. Then, I realized the frozen tears stuck to my cheeks and peeled them off painfully.

The noise of machinery forced my gaze to dart over to the origin. Ratchet stood there, understandment and pity evident in his eyes. “Is there anything I can do, Midnight?” his voice, thankfully, was soft and timidly, as if scared he was going to set off another bad reaction.

With my voice lodged deep in my throat, I shook my head to answer him. He needed to give me time after what he did. But, I didn’t blame him, completely at least. Something internally didn’t let me place all the blame on him. What was it? It couldn’t be my humanity. That was ripped out years ago with no sign of remorse.

Another yawn escaped me with tears brimming my eyes. That flashback didn’t ease my nervousness of sleeping again. I peered up at Ratchet, his blue orbs still trained on me. 

His tense frame slowly relaxed after a minute or so of staring between us. He must of have gotten the message being silently asked by me. The bright color medic dipped his head, a reassuring smile gracing his lips. “It’s alright. You’re okay. You can rec-sleep,” he calmly spoke.

I was more than afraid to let my guard down, again in front of him. To ease my nervousness, I took a few deep breathes before gently sitting down on the pile of blankets. Thoughts still race through my mind at hyper speed.

Ratchet seemed satisfied of calming me down and returned back to his desk/table. The bot rummage through some of his tools until finding a wrench his size. “I’ll be back, Midnight. I’ll also close and lock the Med. Bay door so one can get in. If you need out, the windows around open up.” 

After his statement, he took his tool with him and exited the hangar. Just like he said, he closed the door behind him and continued walking on.

A little confused of the situation, I timidly eased myself down on the blankets, eyes scanning for threats. None of my senses alerted to danger for a good twenty minutes. Then, I deemed it safe enough to sleep and allowed for the darkness to swallow me up.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first nightmare caused a chain reaction

The first flashback started a chain reaction.

Everything hurt. My limbs refused to move, unless… they were unable to. Something internally struck my heart painfully. A scream escaped my lips in reaction. Where was I? What was happening? Who was hurting me?

A sharp instrument dug deep into the soft flesh of my thigh. Another scream ripped at my somehow already sore throat. Two sets of familiar eyes appeared in the inky blackness surrounding me. I couldn’t help the pure terror ripping through me at the sight. 

None of my limps would move to fight against the two who did this to me. Cyrus drew back the blade and both of them watched blood dripped to the floor off of the blade. 

The darkness around me was replaced by an all too familiar room. Cold concrete walls lined the walls, ceiling, and floor, not allowing any space for escape. Dirty, disgusting blankets were piled off in one corner, acting as bed for the only occupant in the cell. Just like a prison cell, a metal toilet and sink sat in the opposite corner. 

Everywhere in the cell was dirty, nothing was new, causing come sicknesses to kill off a few of the soldiers kept in them.

Pain ripped through my arm as Cyrus dragged the knife along the appendage. Tears poured down my cheeks. I couldn’t move, I felt frozen in place and couldn’t stop Cyrus from continuing his torture. 

This wasn’t a memory though. That was for sure. Yes, the cell was how I remembered it but him stabbing me while I was in my ‘room’. No, he wouldn’t do that. If he wanted to teach me a lesson, he would take me to the arena and easily defeat me. No one could beat him at his own game, that’s why it was more like a beating than training.

His and Rue’s image morphed into something worse. Four clearly dead bodies lied out in front of me. A strangled gasp escaped me as my eyes observed the deceased humans. I knew exactly who they were.

On the other side of the horrible sight stood… me, present me too. Blood coated my claws, a sadist grin etched into my face, eyes staring deeply into mine: the real me. I ignored them though and focused on the bodies.

Zayden, Jeremy, Mia, and Jacob lied there, their eyes still open and looking blankly up at me. I sobbed, unable to handle the thought of them dead. Those four were all I had left in life. My friends and family from before only knew that I was gone, never to be found, changed into something I’m not.

I dropped to my knees, the only action that I could do. Everything hurt. Mentally, physically, emotionally. When will all this fighting end?! It’s pointless! Why take innocent lives and turn them into monsters? Another sob racked my body, eyes clenched shut, and claws digging into the dirt.

“You’re all but good, Azar. A monster, just to be used as a weapon for death, destruction, and chaos,” my own voice wavered into the air but it wasn’t me saying the truth. My eyes darted up to the origin, it was the double saying those words. “We all know it’s true. You do as well.”

“Shut it,” I grounded out and dug my claws into the dirt. The double only chuckled and smiled sweetly at me. Anger rose up in me, burning energy warmed the tips of my fingers. “I said, shut it.” 

An invisible force pushed me back. I was unable to steady my balance and fell roughly onto my back. Pain sprung up from where my wings connected to my back. The air was knocked out of me as I gasped for oxygen. 

The double leaned over me, talons on her feet wrapped securely around my waist. Her hand rested on my sternum, coincidentally where the weird feeling had settled. Not a word from her as her claws began to slow dig into the thin scales. 

For the third time, none of my limbs wanted to move to retaliate against her attack. The fiery energy turned stone cold in fright as I could do nothing but lie there. I had an urge to protect the feeling but no limb would listen. I tried to fight, nothing worked and all it created was fear, pure fright.

My talons scraped against something metal as I fought to get to my feet. Energy expelled from my hands, releasing a huge amount of power. The sound of crashing waves then crackling of ice caught me off guard.

Everything hurt, worse this time. The thawing of my scales; the fresh memory of a nightmare; the confusing clash of emotions. I fell to my knees in agony and claws stabbed at my scalp. “Make it stop!” I begged and felt tears drip. “Please.” Is someone even in the room with me? Did Ratchet get back? I internally prayed he did so he could do something to help me.

I heard a semi-familiar noise of a robotic being to my left but couldn’t focus on it. A wave of pain passed over me, ever-so slowly, drawing a scream out of me. “Stop it!” Bile crawled up my throat. Tears continued to pour down my cheeks as degrading words were shouted and spat at me. All said by the same two people who tortured me. 

Outside of the shouting going on in my head, I barely heard the muffled words of another speaking. A male and… robotic sounding. Was it Ratchet? Was it my way out? I tried to push away the yelling and wanted his voice to draw me out from this state.

As if the shouting voices were attached to me, they continued on, calling me the same damn things: a monster, a murder, a killing machine. I sobbed harder and tightened my grip. The energy returned, luckily not in the same amount force it had. Nevertheless, it was building up again.

The shouting match going on inside of my head marched forward with no sign of stopping. Ratchet’s voice could no longer be heard, drowned out. Now, no hope for calm in this raging sea.

My chest tightened, the muscles contracting and made it hard to breathe. I force open my eyes and search for something to focus on. Ratchet stood close, seeming unsure of what to do. His mouth was moving, reminding me that he was trying to talking to me. “H-help,” I begged and reached out with my hand. 

Tears prickled the corner of my eyes. A cry escaped my lips and I curled back into a ball. Ratchet finally acted and scooped me off of the table. At first, I freaked out, scared of being forced into a small place then calmed down. 

His voice began to filter through the shouting, helping me through this episode. I latched onto any metal plating in reach and held onto him for dear life. “You’re… Midnight… fine.” His words were broken up but I understood the message. 

Time seemed irrelevant as the two of us sat/stood there in the Med. Bay for however long it took for the voices to fade away. The tightness in my chest went away with the shouting but left behind sore muscles and the tingling running through my arms.

“How are you feeling, Midnight?” Ratchet voice was now clear and the only noise I could hear in the hangar. The prickling in my fingers was still there since I haven’t released the built up energy. I was also tired, again. Other than those two things, I was feeling much better.

I timidly stood up on shaky legs and gazed up at him. “Better. I just… Thank you for… helping me.” After leaving Aztec, I was alone, no one to help me during any of those episodes. 

A kind smile its way to his face. The bot took me over to where he usually worked and set me down next to a few of his tools. His work area seemed a little disturbed and it reminded me of what happened early, possibly yesterday. “Of course. If you need anything from me, just ask.” I smiled in returned, showing him a sign of vulnerability.

Our conversation ended there. The bot went to work on a few things and muttered to himself about it. I glanced over to the huge icicle spikes sticking from the ground. It was also in Ratchet’s way, causing guilt to grow inside of me. The same energy from before prickled painfully at my finger tips, wanting to be released. 

The ice glistened from the sunlight filtering through the hangar door’s. I forced the ice to disappear and took in the energy once more. Some of the original energy that was used was lost which aided in lessening the pressure. Ratchet smiled at me again in appreciation. I sat there next to him, observing what he was doing. Well, until I got bored and flew to the rafters. Being high above everything was relaxing to me and gave me pride to be this high. Ha, I’m higher than any of the bots.

My wings lazily hung unfurled below, a gently breeze moving them. I sighed content and relaxed at the moment after what happened early this morning. A stutter racked my body at the thought of early. I was beyond thankful for Ratchet being there because things would have definitely turned for the worse.

Later on in the day, the familiar form of William enters the hangar with his buddy in tow. His eyes scanned over the hangar but he seemed to come up empty handed. “Where’s Azar?” he questioned to Ratchet. How did he not see the two twelve foot long wings hanging from the rafters?

Said bot turned to face the two and furrowed his brows. “Who’s Azar?” Right, Ratchet wasn’t there to listen to my integration. 

“Oh, right. Um, Midnight. Midnight isn’t her real name, Azar is. During our meeting, she explained a few things and told us about that,” William explained. Ratchet nodded his and motioned towards me up in the rafters, observing their conversation. “Oh, didn’t see you there. Anyway, we need your help. We possibly found a Jasper base.”

I perked up at his statement and glided down to land in front of him. Robert took a step back in shock and a smirk graced my lips. “Happy to help.” I stood tall, shoulders back, and ready to take on any Jasper or Decepticon soldiers.

“I don’t think so, Midnight. Your hip isn’t fully healed yet,” Ratchet interjected. Yes, he was correct about my hip but it was healed enough to fight if need be. “You won’t be going out to fight until it’s healed.“

“But Ratchet, I’m fine. It won’t take much, just a little slash-slash and pew-pew of my powers,” I countered and needed to get off of this base and use my abilities.

“We aren’t in any hurry to go and charge the base. We were planning that in a week once we get a plan of attack, we’ll attack then,” William explained. 

“I’ll be ready by then.” It’s been less than a week and my hip was almost completely healed, it would be healed.

“Alright, see you around, Azar.” With that, the two left to go do their own thing. I gazed back at Ratchet as he stared at me with interest and confusion.

“Azar?” And that’s when I began to tell the same story Ratchet to catch him up. I felt safe enough to


	13. Chapter 13

Boredness sat deep in my bones as I lounged on top of the rafters of the Med. bay, wings unfurled. This was the hangar you would normally see me if you dare enter the building. Ratchet was pretty protective of the place, especially if one or both of the twins decided to ‘check up’ on me. I was becoming suspicious of their actions and noted the electrical buzz spazz when they grew near.

A sigh escaped my lips the longer I lied there, resting for the time being. Anna had gotten herself in trouble with her father and was grounded to her room. I dearly love the kid as a sibling but the barracks had too many smells to deal with.

Ratchet was out and about on the base and left me in charge. Thankfully, the door was wide open, allowing the gently breeze to blow in. Its cool touch glided over my thick scales, as if taunting me to leave my position and take a small flight. Oh, how my wings twitched at the thought. It has been sometime since a nice fly but I couldn’t, I was on guard to deter those two from entering.

That didn’t stop the little memory tease’s of me flying high, ruling the sky as mine own. I scraped my claws across the metal beam and gritted my teeth, in need of feeling the adrenaline. 

My flight plan was interrupted by a bot strolling into the Med. Bay. If I remembered correctly from the meeting, this was Jazz and it seemed he walked with a small limp in his step. 

The bot surveyed the ground before his visor glanced up to where my wings dangled. “Aza’? Optimus wants ya ta meet th’ rest of th’ Autobots,” Jazz explained and motioned for me to follow him. I took a moment to stare at him before responding to him.

“Uh, I can’t. Ratchet has me guarding the bay until he gets back.” My wings furled back to their respected spot in case I need to bolt. The bot wasn’t giving any dangerous vibes but it is always best to be on the ready.

Jazz waved his claw styled hand as if he was physically brushing off my statement. “Don’t fret. Hatchet is alrigh’ with ya leavin’,” he reassured and turned around to exit the hangar. 

When he noticed I wasn’t following, he stopped and gestured once more. “Com’ on. Th’re’s nutting ta worry abou’.” I glanced around the hangar for any sign of foul play before rolling off of the beam. Jazz rushed forward, hands out in front of him to catch my falling form. He must have forgotten the two powerful appendages on my back.

Said two limbs unfurled to catch the air underneath them. The bot stopped in his tracks when he saw me slow down to a hover. “Forgo’ ya can do tha’.” He brushed off the awkward moment and moved back towards the door. I flew after him, enjoying the fact I’m getting out of this hangar. 

My wings ached from the lack of use, protesting in the slightest of movements. That didn’t deter me from continuing and actually motivate me to fly some circles above him. Jazz peered up, curiosity barely evident on his face. I did a twirl before diving down, flying by him and making eye contact with him for a good long moment.

For some odd reason, he was curious but made no comment. Neither did I and instead took off higher in the sky, not too far from the bot.

We made it to hangar he was taking me to and both of us entered. Many different styled, size, and height bots stood around inside. Optimus stood next to one I met before: Hide. His cannons whirled quietly in their chambers as he spoke with the largest bot of them all.

The hairs on my neck stood straight up and put me on edge. I stopped to hover by the hangar door, unsure if it was safe to join the small group. My eyes flickered between each bot, trying to determine if they were a threat or not. 

Jazz continued over to stand by Prowl and greeted him as well. Optimus noticed us entering and excused himself from his conservation with Hide. The leader of the Autobots strides over to me and welcomed me with a gentle smile. “It is good to see you in great health,” he noted. 

“Thanks. I am too and ready for the upcoming mission against a Jasper base,” I agreed and gave him most of my attention. With the many other bots in the room, I couldn’t allow my guard to be let down just to speak with Optimus.

He dipped his head to acknowledge my words. “Ah, yes. William told you about that. I only hope for a clean and safe mission.” I agreed once more in a civil manner. The red and blue bot turned to be parallel with the side of the hangar. “I brought you here to introduce my team to you. The only ones who are not here is Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.” 

Yeah, Sunstreaker and I had a lot of time to get to know each other. His brother… I don’t know. I felt conflicted about my opinion of him. One part of me, aka my brain, stated he was irritating and annoying all together. The other side, aka my heart, didn’t necessarily ’say’ anything but made me feel at ease with him. Actually with both of them and was key evidence of what was going on. But first, I needed to figure out what happening to me and why it included them.

I nodded after bringing myself back into reality. “Understandable. I had more than enough time to get to know Sunstreaker. Sideswipe… is on the same hand as well.” Hide snorted with no remorse and received a stern look from Optimus.

“Well, Sunstreaker does hold a strong distaste for your kind and I do apologize for that.” I scoffed and waved his statement away with a flicker of my wrist.

“Nonsense. Don’t apologize for someone else’s actions or likes/dislikes. We also did get off on the wrong foot, I must say. Partly his fault and partly mine. But that doesn’t matter. Do introduce me to your team.” The longer I talked, the more my sentences became formal as I took note of how he spoke. 

Optimus took the opportunity and started off with the closest bot to him: Ironhide. The black iron giant straightened his back when his leader motioned to him. “This here is Ironhide, my weapon specialist.” He tried to look ‘down’ at me but I was eye level with the red and blue leader. So he took it upon himself to intimidatingly spin his cannons and take a step towards me.

Danger bells rung inside of my head. I didn’t let that control me and bared my fangs at him, on the ready to spit acid-venom if need be. His head recoiled slightly back in reaction. A smirk etched its way onto my face, one of my deadly canines popping over my lips. This didn’t stop Optimus though and he continued on like nothing happened.

Next, he motioned towards a bot I haven’t before, like many others in the hangar. This Cybertronian was red in color like a special twin I know of but had a different shade; a more saturated red compared to Sideswipe color. This bot also had two curved blades attached to the outside of their forearm; sharp and deadly, me likey. “Our spy, Mirage.”

When the bot was introduced, they dipped their head in greetings. “But you can call me Dino.” Ah, Mirage, or Dino as he just stated, is male by the sounds of it. I’m going to take a long shot and guess all the other Cybertronians in here are males.

The Autobot’s leader moved on to another teammate, a black and yellow bot. He was nearly the same height of Jazz, maybe only a foot taller. Kind of hard to tell when they were on opposites of the room from each other. “Bumblebee here is our scout and is the guardian of Sam Witwicky who you may meet later on in the future.”

After learning his name, his color scheme did remind me of a bumblebee. The door panels did add to that thought. Heh, cute I must say.

But, we weren’t done yet, there were two other bots that I have yet to know of their names. Optimus continued down the row to a red, white and blue Cybertronian, about the same height of Prowl. He and Bumblebee shared the same kid-ish face. How old were they all?

Right as Optimus was going to introduce the bot, he took it upon himself to do it. “I’m Smokescreen, the other scout and warrior. Especially when Bee is off base with the Witwicky kid.” And I was right, another male judging by his voice.

Prowl snapped his gaze at Smokescreen, anger evident on his face. But a look from Optimus deterred him from saying anything rash towards the childish ‘warrior’. 

“Yes, Smokescreen is also brother to Prowl and Bluestreak, who is the last of our team on Earth.” The attention moved over the last Cybertronian to be introduced. His body style resembled both Prowl and Smokescreen, both stated as his brothers. The only thing that caught my eye though was the lack of blue on his body as his name would state he should have some. I decided against of bringing it up and really wanted to get out. 

There was just too many of them and I have been in here too long. “Uh, I don’t know if anyone has told you but I’m Midnight but you can call me Azar if you want.” The scales on my arms began to feel itchy, a sign of my anxiety starting to grow out of hand.

“The meaning of fire in Persian. Ha, that’s a little ironic,” Smokescreen decided to point that fact of my real name. 

Thankfully, Optimus stepped in before I did anything… out of line. I didn’t need the reminder of the irony of me being part dragon and able to control fire with the name that meant fire. “Azar, thank you for coming. The next time we should talk is during the preparation against Jasper.”

Once closing the introducing between everyone, mostly all of them left to go fulfill their duties. Jazz and Prowl stayed behind and I approached by the former. “Aza’, if ya wanna, ya can go abou’ and around th’ base. Just sta’ within th’ boundaries of th’ base,” Jazz offered, somehow able to know that I wanted to go for a fly.

“I will… thank you.” It felt wrong yet at the same time right to thank him for his proposals. Ah, inner turmoil fighting over the controls. I smile in appreciation at him before taking my leave and soaring high into the blue, cloudy sky.

Some clouds were a little bit dark, alerting to me there is a chance of rain. I took that with a grain of salt and continued heading nearly straight up. My wings protested against their forced use but I pushed passed the aching.

Once high enough for my liking, I leaned back with the help of my wings and fell into a dive. My eyes closed, trust completely in my senses.

Freedom bloomed in my chest as I plummeted back down to Earth. Even as this creature, I used the things given to me to their limitations, especially flight. That’s what every human dreams of: to be able to fly off of the ground with no help of machinery or another human. Or at least, that’s what I dreamed of as a small child.

This was better than what I imagined though. A kid’s imagination couldn’t beat the reality of flight. With the wind blowing through your air, the ability to go anywhere you want quickly, and all in all freedom it was a dream come true.

Something buzzed in the back of my head, the signal I was waiting for. I opened my eyes noticed the ground closing in at a mild speed and unfurled my wings, not yet letting them catch any air.

Jazz’s form could be seen next the hangar we were at, Prowl standing shoulder to shoulder with him. Both of their gazed fixated on my falling body. The former seemed to have learned his lesson from early allowed for me to head straight down to the ground.

An idea came to mind.

I tilted my weight for the extra appendages to grip lightly onto the air. Since this time I wasn’t being chased by those Decepticon jets, there was no reason to do what I did before. Plus, that puts a huge strain on my wings and they didn’t need the extra pain.

The ground continued to come in, at a slower rate due to me changing my angle. I glided gently this time to be leveled with the earth and glanced over to the two. 

Everyone else had left during my time high above them. Though, I could still see Smokescreen hanging over by an unknown hangar, his gaze also locked onto me. That was quickly fixed when Ironhide grabbed the plating on his shoulder and pulled him in the building with him. I couldn’t help but laugh at his predicament.

My wings pumped harder, gaining speed easily as a need to impress the two washed over me. I turned in the direction of Jazz and Prowl, not entirely heading straight towards them. 

The police Cybertronian seemed slightly astonished as his blue eyes stayed locked onto me. His partner was in the same boat as him but the visor made it a challenge to completely know what he was feeling. I took the opportunity to circle around them by their feet. Our eyes met, a smirk growing on my face as they dipped their heads. 

I orbited around them two more times before taking off towards the human buildings. The appendages on my back carried me high above any building on the base, allowing me to observe the layout.

For the humans, they had their own spot on one side of the base. About thirty or so buildings lined that side, outnumbering the large hangars probably for the bots. Said beings had around twenty or so hangars for themselves. Though a good ten of them were on the smaller scale compared to the others like the Main Hangar.

Those hangars were lined up close together in a grid formation, all set up two by five. I observed as Bluestreak and Bumblebee entered two of those buildings. Wait… were these rooms for them?

During my observing, I noticed the tingling roaming outside from its origin. Automatically, my eyes snapped over to two Lamborghini’s driving onto the base from some sort of road. A chain link fence slid closed behind them. They transformed, their gaze drifting up towards me.

Sideswipe smiled brightly and knocked his shoulder into the yellow bot next to him. Said bot scowled and moved away from his brother. I decided to peruse the feeling blooming in my chest and dove down towards them.

The yellow twin stopped in his tracks and touched the center of his chest… the same place where the tingling sat for me. Sideswipe had the same reaction this time and a time before. I noted to myself that the closer I got to them, the more the buzz came to life.

Both glanced at each other for a long moment before returning their gaze up to me. None of us said anything when I reached them as we silently addressed the situation. I circled around their feet and notice the buzz would point in their direction. 

To say in the least, it confused me. My curiosity wanted to find out why I have the tingling and why it seemed to be connected with them. The defensive side of me wanted nothing to do with them. 

Curiosity killed the cat… but satisfaction brought it back.

My wings carried me to land in front of them, eyes flickering between but not going anywhere else. They didn’t look anywhere else as well and watched my actions closely. “What is it?” I started and needed to sooth my curiosity.

The two glanced once more at each other, confusion evident on their faces. Sunstreaker spoke up first before his brother could get a word out. “What do you mean?”

A flare of anger blazed to life inside of me. I jabbed fiercely at the origin with my pointer fingers. “This! Your brother knows a little about it. You should to since you were the first to shock me!”

They both touched the same spot for them and peered at one another, again. Neither spoke for a good minute, them seeming like they were having their own conversation silently. Until facing me, unease grow on their faces which caused me to feel the same. What was going on? Ratchet didn’t know if the tingling was dangerous or not… or was he not telling me the truth?

Did they know if it was a threat towards me? One of them better tell me if it is or I swear on all things unholy someone is going to be stripped of their bolts and platings.

“Midnight, has Ratchet told you anything else about… the situation?” Sideswipe question and played a little with his hands.

“No and I haven’t brought up the fact you also shocked me too. Which also did the same damn thing when Sunstreaker shocked me.” A sign you could tell my stress levels were rising was the fact I had cussed. Unintentionally, I rubbed the heel of my hand where the tingling raced inside of me. “What is going on? Can you at least answer me that?”

Sideswipe sighed and I knew he didn’t have a conclusion to this growing issue. “I’m sorry, I don’t know. Ratchet would be the one to have all the answer, if there is one. We can go there now and see if he knows. It been a couple of days since you told him. He has to have an answer by now.” 

Wouldn’t Ratchet tell me if he knew something by now? The Med. Bay was practically my bedroom and we saw each other every day. But I was in need of any answer and growing antsy for one. “Let’s go. The sooner I know what is going on, the sooner I can assess the situation and figure out how to deal with it.”

I took to the sky again and watched as they transformed swiftly into their alt. modes. Sunstreaker took the lead of our little parade and headed straight towards the Med. Bay. The door could be seen still open but that didn’t mean he was actually in there. I followed the two of the whole way there, hoping for some kind of answer to this madness.


	14. Chapter 14

Flying to the Med. Bay on caused my worry and fear to grow. What was wrong with me? Could Ratchet fix it? Why did it include these two? What is the weird buzzing/tingling? Why did it always act up when around said twins? I couldn’t stop the single tear slide down my cheek from the hurricane of emotions roaring inside of me.

The two Lamborghini’s below me kept pace with my speed. Their own worry could be felt around them, an aura surrounding both of them. It caused me freak out more, the tips of my fingers prickling with cold energy. I curled my hands and pushed the increasing energy back to where it gathers.

All three of us entered the hangar. The bot we were looking was standing at his normal spot, tinkering with something on his table. When he heard the transformation of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, he turned around. His eyes flickered to each of us and stayed on me in the end. “What an unsuspecting group surprise. What are you two doing here?” Ratchet hardened his voice for his last question regarding the twins.

For the first time that I have been around them, Sideswipe showed nervousness and confided in his brother. Said bot didn’t say anything, acting unsure as well, and glanced over at me, just for a moment.

My hand flew to the center of my chest as the buzz bloomed in reaction of his gaze. I growled under my breath and looked over at Ratchet for some assistance. The CMO came to my rescue, kind of. “I think I now know why you are in here. Azar, I believe we need to have a discussion, with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.”

“Yeah, I think so too. It’s starting to get irritating. And Sideswipe decided to join in on the fun of shocking me as well,” I hissed and glared at said bot who tried to act innocent.

Ratchet dipped his head. “He shocked you too?” He received a nod to confirm his question. “Did the same buzz start afterwards?” Another nod. The medic hummed and turned to grab a tablet off of the table behind him. He scrolled through whatever data was on the device before coming to stop and handing it to the twins.

“Azar, have you heard of sparkmates, er, soulmates?” Ratchet continued with his questioning.

Confused, I nodded and glanced over at the twins. Shock was evident on their faces when they heard what the neon bot said. They returned to reading a couple moments after. “Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything that is going on?”

The CMO sighed as the gears in his head spun. “It’s a cultural thing for us Cybertronians. Sparkmates are rare now since the war has spilt or offlined many. And for you to have that kind of connection with the twins is even more rare, shouldn’t even be possible with you as an organic.”

Sunstreaker stopped reading and motioned for Ratchet to slow down. “Are you saying that she is our sparkmate? A human?” Disgust filled his voice. In reaction, I puffed out my chest and flexed my claws. His brother elbowed him in the side and shook his head to deter him from saying anything else. Nothing that the yellow bot would say couldn’t be worse than what my own mother has said to me.

“Technically yes and no.” Sunstreaker rolled his eyes at the answer he got. “Like I stated, it shouldn’t be possible.” Ratchet turned his attention to me. “I wanted to talk with you, Azar, about this situation tomorrow but it seems like Primus has forwarded that to happen today.”

“From the information that I have gathered and what’s left over from the war, this kind of situation between a Cybertronian and organic has happened only twelve times before. Well, the recorded ones. There could be hundreds more but all on that data pad is all that I have to study. The only reason those twelve could bond with a Cybertronian is the fact their sparks/souls were on the same ‘frequency’. Only on two occasions was it a near death experience, for the organic but all have survived.” Okay, that didn’t ease any tension of what is going on for me.

I landed a little wobbly on the table closest to me and began pacing. My hands shook in fear and nervousness, unable to contain what I felt. “What’s does this-“ I pointed firmly at my chest- “mean then? What is the buzz?”

Both of the twins glanced over me with worry in their eyes; as much as Sunstreaker fought it, he couldn’t hide his true feelings. Sideswipe moved from his brother’s side over me. His hands held up in surrender, trying to show he was no threat. A pointed look from me stopped him in his tracks.

Ratchet fake cleared his throat to ease the tension growing. “Well, the buzz is from the transfer of spark essence from them.”

That surely caught the yellow bot’s attention. Said Cybertronian snapped his head to stare at Ratchet. “What?!” His voice echoed throughout the hangar and rung as if it was inside of my mind.

Fright struck me straight at the heart as I gaped from his sudden outburst. The medic’s body immediately tensed and his eyes locked onto mine. He made careful, timid movements over to me as my legs began to shake and scooped me off.

White noise overcame everything else in hangar. I struggled to breath and gripped tightly onto Ratchet’s chest plating for support. The shouting match began once more inside of my head.

Tears fell freely down my cheeks. A soothing stroke to the top of my head surprised me but I did nothing to stop the motion. Instead, I pushed myself more against the petting. It was the only thing I could focus on in this state of mind.

What felt like hours later, the voice of Ratchet could heard over the white noise and yelling. I mentally latched onto his voice, using it as a helper and protector. Until finally I could hear and focus on other noises of the Med. Bay.

Thankfully for all those in here with me, that episode didn’t last long nor did it get out of hand. I relaxed against Ratchet’s chest plating and purred lightly to alert I was now better. The bot stopped petting me which I didn’t mind, surprisingly. “What happened to her?” Sideswipe carefully questioned, his voice quiet and soft.

“I learned the hard way not to yell suddenly when she is around,” Ratchet grounded out and sounded… protective over me. Sideswipe only made an ‘oh’ sounded and quieted down afterwards. “And Sunstreaker, you heard me. You somehow transferred your spark essence to her. How? I don’t a solid answer besides you two shocking her.”

After gathering my bearings and sitting up, I cleared my throat to bring the attention to me. “What is spark essence though and why do I have it in my chest?”

“It’s, for human terms, soul essence. You probably shared some of yours with them and formed a bond.” A bond?

“What kind of bond?” Because soulmates are mostly romantic and I… don’t deserve love or anything good in my life.

“Romantic, to say in the least. Bonds for Cybertronians are very special and you have a deep connection with each other. Your sparkmate is, figuratively, your other half.” I cringed and felt guilt build up inside of me for the two that got dragged into this mess.

I stood up on shaky legs and peered sorrowfully up at him. “Is there any way for us to break the bond?”

Silence. Did… did I say something wrong?

“Azar, you…” Ratchet was lost for words and held me eye to eye with him. “That’s not… why?” Is all he can form and put into a one word sentence.

“To say in the least, I don’t des-erve love. I don’t de-serve someone to be there for me. They also don’t want a monster as their soulmate,” I answered and couldn’t stop my voice from cracking. It was the truth. They don’t want me, a killer of thousands, the monster parents tell to their kids at night.

Pity grew in his eyes. I felt more gazes on me and found the twins staring at me as well. Sorrow evident in their orbs. Even Sunstreaker seemed to feel the same. “Midnight, we may not know any of your past but we know you do deserve love. Without asking, you saved Anna and Sunny. You protected them and got injured,” Sideswipe stated and moved towards me.

Blood rushed to my cheeks in embarrassment. “But I don’t. Like you said, you don’t know what I did in my past. I’ve done some… horrible, nasty things. All I’m doing is trying to some good before Jasper gets fed up with me and kills me off.”

“Azar, I know you don’t think you do but give it a shot, for yourself. Here-“ he passed me over to Sideswipe who gently took me in his hands. I stared at him in semi-playful betrayal but felt my nerves begin.

“How about we go for a drive?” Sideswipe offered. “And we show you some secret spots around the area.”

My eyes flickered between the two, anxious about whether or not. Should I lower my guard and allow for this bond to grow? I still don’t believe that I should have a bond with them. But time will tell them they shouldn’t be with me. “Sure but I’m flying. The inside of a Lamborghini isn’t that big for my twenty-four foot wing span.”

Sideswipe smiled, not his usual smirk, and held out the hand I was standing on. I took this silent invitation to take off and hovered by the open hangar door. The two transformed and pulled out onto the gravel outside. I glanced back at Ratchet, to ensure it was okay.

“Go, be free. If you need me, I’ll be here trying to gather some more information.” With a gentle curl of the corner of my lips, I took off after the two. This was the first time in a week that I was going off base, even though with an escort it was better than nothing.

Down below me, Sunstreaker called out to me. I dove to be close with them and noted the buzz grew at the close proximity. Oh, how I’m going to miss that when they realize they don’t want to be with me. “Follow us, we’re going to an isolate place in the forest.”

“Alright but don’t worry about speed, I’m pretty fast.” After announcing that, I tilted my wings in a gentle glide upwards and leveled out around a hundred or so feet above them. Sideswipe sped in front of his brother to be leader and headed towards the way off of the base.

The wind felt amazing after the lack of flight during my time here. A few clouds blotted the sky, not enough to block out the sun. There was a soft breeze bringing in the smell of rain many miles off to the east. Maybe a possibility of a storm, oh that would be fun. A wide smile was brought to my face at the thought.

All three of us left the base, on a mission. They drove slowly at first then timidly speeding up until they were skidding around corners. I easily handled how fast the two were going even on the straits and dove down to be close with the two. These roads were just a bit small for me to have my wings fully unfurled but that didn’t matter too badly for me.

After some time, Sideswipe revved his engine as a challenge. His brother returned the gesture. I scoffed with the same smile growing on my face and turned with them on a tight corner.

Three cars appeared around the bend. The first in line slammed on their brakes at the sight of my form. The others followed suit, probably in confusion until we passed them and those two saw me fly by. Luckily, no one rear ended each or ran off the road.

We continued on path with no breaks as the twins raced each other and I kept equal pace with them. Why waste energy on a race that I would surely win?

I headed up more in the sky for extra room and barrel rolled. Excitement bloomed in my chest; the sun kissing my skin; the wind in my hair; and all of my fucks out there for anyone to have. I swooped quickly towards the two before doing a couple loop de loop.

Before the sun just started to touch the horizon, the Lamborghinis turned onto a dirt road. This small, pot hole filled road forced them to have to slow way down and carefully drive. I slowed down with them and glided like a feather over the top of the trees. Some of the pine branches brushed against the underside of my wings, drawing out another smile.

The ability of flight isn’t something I hate or despise unlike my other powers. Nor do I take it for granted either. This is the one thing that I will admit that I like for what Jasper has given me.

This road Sideswipe is leading us to was extremely windee to the point the wide supercars had trouble around some corners. I, on the other hand, didn’t let the slow speed bring my mood down; instead, I twirled and had some fun of some air tricks as they shimmied around tight bends. It was an amusing sight to see.

All of us reached the end of the road when the sun’s rays barely shined. The moon blazing brightly with stars flittering in around its small statue.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker transformed after a good hour of straight driving. I landed at the edge of the small clearing we made it to and gazed upon the mountain ranges. As far as my eyes could see, trees covered the land. This was freedom and no one could take that away from me. Over my cold, dead, scaled body.

My wings furled tightly in their spots as a soft breeze ruffled my hair. “What do you think?” Sideswipe questioned and came over to stand next to me.

I turned my head peer to the side up at the tall bot. “Well, Sideswipe, anywhere with a view is beautiful. Humans crave for things like this and even pay top dollar for it,” I answered truthfully and breathed in the fresh air.

He chuckled lowly and sat down, not minding the pine needle covered ground. “I agree with you… Also I told you can call me Sides for short and what’s with Hatchet calling you Azar?”

“Yeah, I know but I don’t feel like I shouldn’t, you know? For Azar… I gave you guys a fake name to hide my identity from the military. But Azar is my real name,” I hesitantly responded. “I’m… considered dead to the general public and to those who knew me before I disappeared.”

Sunstreaker joined us and only stood next to his brother, giving the ground a disgusted expression. With their close proximity, I could barely focus on anything but the tingling racing around in my chest. “Why are you considered dead?” he spoke up and changed his gaze onto me.

A sigh escaped me as I had to remember the exact reason once more. “Long story short, my mother who leads Jasper took me there to train me as a soldier. My father who leads Aztec couldn’t find me and had the police searching for me. They failed as you can see and Zayden built his team to find me after learning of Jasper.”

Silence as they digested the information I gave them. “Wait a minute. You’re saying that your carrier leads Jasper and your sire leads Aztec.” I could only nod, my voice stuck in my throat. “They’re at war… They’re fighting over you, aren’t they?” Sunstreaker brought up really good points.

“Yes,” I croaked out and scratched at the underside of my arm, a nervous habit of mine. “I side with none to protect those I love. I fight against my mother in hopes of defeating her or worse case, killing her off for the better of others. I don’t want to end it that way, but if I have to, then, like most of my life, my hand is forced.”

Sideswipe brushed his finger tips against the area between my wings. My anxiety washed away from his touch, a blanket of safety covered me. “We can’t do anything about the past, but we promise we will kill any who try to hurt you.” I internally scoffed and knew they would leave soon after seeing the true monster.

“Don’t worry, I got that covered. William asked me a few days ago to join him on taking down a Jasper base and I plan on going. My wing and hip sare healed and I know I’ll be at near capacity for my powers. No human or creature from Jasper can stand in my way of taking them down.” I couldn’t help but lean into his strokes.

Why was I putting down my guard? Allowing him to see me vulnerable? And why was this not as alarming it should be to me?!

“Hey, we’ve been assigned to go on that mission as well. This time we get to see what you can do. Hey, you think you could show us some of your… powers. I’ve heard of them but never seen them.”

I glanced over at him to see pure curiosity in his eyes and gave in. Heat raced to my finger tips, flames dancing along the nibble limbs and under my control. Both of them watched the fire with interest. Pride and confidence grew in my chest while under their gaze.

The red bot used the hand he was petting me with to reach out to the flames. What’s with everyone wanting to touch something that burns? I created a small ball of fire and had it float just out of his reach. “No touchy-touchy. High temperatures melt metal.” He stopped his advancements and embarrassingly rubbed at the back of his neck.

“Right. No other human can do that, it’s just so memorizing.” I fed the ball more energy and had it dance around Sides and Sunstreaker.

Light had ceased to exist. The moon and my fire were the only light source for miles. Us three sat in each other’s presences. I was enjoying it, that was making me internally crazy. Why was I, a killing machine, milling around with two robots who are my soulmates? It made no sense. I glanced down at my hands in bewilderment and wondered what was wrong with me.

Sunstreaker timidly nudged my shoulder with his finger, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Everything alright?” Was I? I just learned that I was bonded with two alien robots. The bond meant to be romantic but knowing in the end, they were going to leave. So what was the point of getting attached.

“Yeah, just processing everything that I learned about. All of this is… alien to me,” I laughed lowly at the ironic word I had used.

“Ha, nice choice of words. I guess we kind of understand. We’ll wait as long as it takes for you to get use to things,” Sides promised and caresses the top of my head. I felt something warm in my chest, a feeling that was more foreign. My fingers brushed against where my heart sat. What was this? What am I feeling?

The yellow bot bumped his index and middle finger against my shoulder again. “Are you sure you are alright? It seems like you have more on your mind than learning we’re your sparkmates.”

“I don’t like the warm feeling in my chest,” I spilled as if I was talking to Jacob or Mia… or like we were old friends. “It’s like as if a kitten was curled up there.” My gazed settled on him. “What is it?”

“’A kitten curled up there’? Warm and fuzzy, I’m guessing. It could be love possibly, or appreciation, or anything on that line. Are you not use to these kinds of things? Have you even been in a relationship before?” Sunstreaker pressed and sat down on his haunches. His blue orbs glowing brightly down at me.

Nervously, I scratched at the back of my neck and meekly answered. “No, I was stuck in a Jasper the day before I turned seven and stayed there since I was sixteen. All I learned to do was kill and destroy. There was no love or compassion in there… only death.” I sighed and stood up, unable to handle their intense stares.

“I don’t know if I can do this. I know I get attached quickly but everyone leaves. You two aren’t any different, I can’t handle someone else leaving me. Just, forget about this. I can’t do this.” My wings unfurled as a want to escape over came me and they carried me off of the ground.

Sideswipe caught my leg before I could get out of reach. “Mid-er Azar, please. We won’t leave you, we promise. Give it a shot, give us a shot. Anything you give us, we’ll return it tenfold.” The pure emotion and truth in his eyes stopped me from wanting to escape.

My eyes flickered all over the place, trying to find any sign of deception but couldn’t. Why do I always get myself into these kind of situations? “Fine,” I gave in. He released his hold on my leg and I landed on the ground in front of him. “I’ll give it a shot. Just… give me time and space to try and figure out my footing.”

The bot smiled widely at me and his twin had the slightly tip of his lips. “Of course, anything you need or want. Right, Sunny?” He purposely dragged Sunstreaker into this by using his nickname.

Said Cybertronian smacked his brother upside the head. “Don’t call me that.”

Maybe this risk will turn out good in the end. For the gods sake, I hope so.


	15. Chapter 15

What was going on with me? My hand gingerly touched the center of my chest, where the buzz originated from. Those two alien robots have changed me, whether they know it or not. What I couldn’t fathom was them staying for long? Heh, maybe after this battle they’ll see me as the monster we all know I am.

At that thought, my hand curled into a fist and rested right above my heart. Why did it hurt to think about them seeing me as a monster? Everyone on this base knew it, or at least the ones that know of me. I knew why, I always get attached to others quickly, a horrible trait of mine.

A sigh escaped me as my eyes gazed over to the many hangars lining the bots side of the base. Only a few souls out during the early hours of morning. It was the morning after my little fly/drive with Sides and Sunstreaker. The memories of what I felt when around them last night refused to leave.

Today was the day we were going to attack the newly found Jasper base and boy was I ready. Heat rushed to my finger tip at the reminder. A sadist smirk graced my lips. Those nasty, vile humans were going to feel the fire of a dragon.

The sun began to rise sometime later, its rays stretching over the lightening sky. Humans started to wake right at the crack of dawn. The lights in their buildings flickering and sounds of them moving about filtered into the air. I glanced over to a window of someone’s room that I figured out was Anna’s before gliding over to it.

Her light flipped on, causing me to stop and hover nearby. It was surely too early for a seven year old to be waking up. Someone inside rustled about to gather his/her needs quickly before exiting the room.

Unease had me acting on my protective trait. I latched onto the window’s frame with the two hooks on my wings and listened for any more movement. The only sound in the room was the quiet breathing of someone, Anna possibly. Could’ve that been William? Sometimes I was too dumb for my own good.

Meh, I was already here. I gently pried open the window and slipped past the curtains. Anna’s sleeping form could be seen under a thick comforter. She rested peacefully without a care in the world that I was standing here.

What was I going here? She’s fine and that was her father. Right as I moved to leap out of the window, a noise behind me caught my attention. “Nighty?” Anna’s tired voice wavered into the air. I visibly flinched due to me waking her and turned around, a small smile on my lips.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to wake you. I was in the area and decided to stop by,” I stated and felt my cheeks heat up from being caught.

She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. “I’m happy to see you. I got in trouble with my dad and he’s making me stay in our room until it’s safe to let me go back to Mama.” The kid got off of the bed, it squeaking from her movements, and hugged me rightly. I returned the gesture a little confused and patted the top of her head awkwardly.

“Understandable. I best be going before he finds me in here or he’ll throw a fit.” I gently pushed her off of me and headed towards the open window.

Anna nodded, a little out of it. “Okay, be safe today and keep my daddy safe, please. “ I smiled big at her request and dipped my head before leaping out into the warming morning sky. The wind greeted me with a gentle breeze to carry me a little ways.

While heading over to the Med. Bay, I spotted a familiar human form slowly making his way to his work hangar. William didn’t seem like a morning person, just like his child. Like father, like daughter.

I couldn’t stop the sweet but sorrowful smile. My heart clenched painfully at the thought of Zayden yet it gave me motivation for today’s battle. I fight for Zayden, for Mia, for Jacob, and for Jeremy. One day, when this is all over, I will be able to see them again without danger looming over our heads.

My talons clinked against the metal of the Med. Bay’s roof. Ratchet wasn’t here yet, probably either sleeping as I’ve learned they do or speaking with any of the other bots. He has given me permission to enter through the windows if need be but I didn’t feel that I should.

The buzz sat quietly, barely making any commotions for awhile until it acted up. My gaze snapped over to where the smaller hangars stood in a grid pattern. Two familiar shapes rolled on their wheeled feet, going someplace on the base. Their blue orbs met mine. The red twins turned the direction he was heading towards me, a smirk washing over his face. His twin rolled his eyes and followed Sides. Ugh, why were they coming over here?

Sides stopped at a distance where he didn’t have to strain his neck to look up. The yellow overgrown toaster stood next to him, only giving me a couple side glances. “Morning, Azar! How was your night?”

“Uh, good, I guess,” I answered the red bot, a little put off by his enthusiasm. “I’m guessing you’re a morning person by the looks of it.” Why not try to start a conversation with them? Ratchet was nowhere in sight and I didn’t know when we were heading off.

“Nah, not really. But seeing you brightened my cycle for sure!” My brows furrowed at his announcement. Was he flirting with me? Or was that a compliment? I had no clue, I had never been in a relationship with someone, er in this case, two someone’s.

Sunstreaker scoffed at Sides words and trudged away. His brother gave me a kind smile before chasing after the yellow tin can. Alright-y then.

Later on in the day, a good hundred or so humans gathered at the entrance of the main hangar. Ratchet still has yet to make his appearance and meant I was still outside. Curiosity killed the cat. I took off into the sky and headed towards the gathering of soldiers.

Hundreds of eyes flickered onto my body as I glided into the Main Hangar. A shiver racked my frame due to the amount of people in one place. I landed quietly next to William on the guardrail and glared at the humans below and around me. “Hey, Azar. You’re just in time for us to go over the plan,” Robert greeted.

I only dipped my head to acknowledge him and landed on the guard railing next William. My tail wrapped around the bottom bar for balance. “What were you doing up at five-thirty?” William questioned and leaned his back side against the railing.

“Flying around. I don’t sleep much and have to keep myself busy for the time being,” I answered and rested my elbows on my thighs, observing the gathering humans.

“Reasonable. Are you ready for today?” he continued.

“I can handle whatever they throw at me. But do you know why kind of base it is?” I threw back and glanced at the packet in his hands. What was in there?

William followed my gaze and held out the papers in his hand. “Here, we have satellite images of the building. It’s not very big but we aren’t taking any chances.” I accepted the packet and opened it. There were only a few papers. Of course the military barely has any information about Jasper. This base is only one of a good twenty or so other bases.

Inside held the satellite image he talked about and he was right about it being small. Scientific bases are around this size but there wasn’t a separate for… test subjects. Training and holding hubs are much more bigger unless they are hidden in a city then Jasper heads underground.

The only other logical option was this base is a data center like the last one I entered. All other information in the packet supported my prediction. I handed back it with a neutral expression. Going against a data center isn’t bad, one I would rather take on then any other. “It’s a data center. They don’t usually have high security but I was proven otherwise when I met a Decepticon. Barricade is his name if I remember.”

“Do you think ninety soldiers and three Autobots will be enough?” Robert gained our attention. Well, last time I attacked a data center, there wasn’t that many soldiers only one Decepticon.

That could change. If they know I’m going after them, Rue and Cyrus will send out their soldiers with backup. Jasper always has a plan b for things like this... Always three step ahead. “Yeah, and you have me as well. Any super humans you see though, let me take them on. Your guns and firepower will not be able to gun one down,” I responded with and subtlety noticed the twins entering. The tingling made sure that I knew.

Their forms appeared from the left side. Sides immediately spotted me on the catwalk and waved like a kid seeing his crush. I nervously waved back and greeted Sunstreaker with dip of my head. He returned the gesture and dragged his brother to the side.

Ironhide trudged his way into the hangar, seeming a little irked. The lumbering bot took roost on the other side of humans and crossed his arms.

“Alright, we’ll let the others know,” William agreed and turned to the huge crowd below us. When the humans saw his movement, all of them quieted down to listen about he needed to state. “Today, we’re facing an enemy we have next to none information about.” He continued to drone on about the plan, to be sneaky, and watch each other’s back. I barely paid any attention to it as the buzz capture my focus. How was I going to take on Jasper if that’s keeping me distracted?

William led his team out to army styled vehicles. Everyone load up in those vehicles besides William and Robert hopping into Ironhide’s truck mode. I flew above them, wings easily being able to keep up with their moderate speeds through the mountains.

Once we were passed the trees and far onto the highway, I glided down to be close to the Autobots leading the multiple vehicles. Sides revved his engine and moved to zoom past Ironhide. The black truck gunned it and jerked to keep him from taking the lead. I couldn’t help but laugh at the bot being shot down so quickly and headed back up.

Ironhide led us up a narrow road, barely any room for him to drive. The road stopped at a spot with enough room to turn around on once were done.

Soldiers jumped out, high powered guns in their grasp. Ironhide, Sides, and Sunstreaker transformed into their robotic form and waited for William’s command. I landed next to the two men and furled my wings tightly.

Danger droned inside of my skull, alerting that we were close to the base. I stood there, eyes watching out for anything out of place, and hackled raising.

The major ordered thirty of his soldiers to sneak through the forest. All the other humans were going to stay behind and be backup in case things go south, horribly. Said man turned to me. “You ready?” I flexed my claws, possibly feeling a little impatient, and nodded.

With my confirmation, the thirty soldiers, the three Autobots, and I headed out to the data center. I took the lead though, listening, smelling, watching out for anything. The bots stayed in the back and William and Robert snuck ‘quietly’ behind me.

Just like how I predicted, we sounded like a freight train marching through the forest. Both humans and robots equaled each other by the amount of noise they were making.

I spotted the familiar dull grey building through the dense foliage and unfurled my wings. Everyone behind me stopped and listened to what I silently ordered them. I turned towards the two main soldiers and motioned for them to be quietly. “We’re here,” I stated and tucked the extra appendages back into place.

He peeked over my shoulder and probably couldn’t see the building. “Right, so remember. You’re going to break in for us, get all the info you can, then get out before you’re spotted. Here-” William handed me a tablet with a small cable- “take this and use it to get all that you can.” So that’s the plan, much better than what I thought he was going to do.

“And you remember, spot any super humans, let me take them on. Your men don’t stand a chance against one, let alone five.” I take the tablet from him and glanced over the screen.

“Alright, don’t get yourself killed, Azar.”

A smirk graced my lips and our eyes met. “No promises.” I blended into the surrounding area with just a thought and lightly trotted over to the clearings edge. William’s face of shock nearly had me laughing and getting us caught. Focus, Azar.

Ten or so soldiers milled about, fingers on the trigger of their guns. Danger rang as if I was blind couldn’t see what was in front of me. I silently tip toed over to one of the building’s sides and leaped up onto the roof.

Two long ranged Jasper soldiers stood at the corners farthest from each other. I cringed in the slightest when one of them glanced over in my direction. Their eyes were hidden behind a dark pair sunglasses but their body language hadn’t alert me they had spotted me. I ducked down behind an air duct and held the tablet close.

Luck seemed to be on my side when the soldier returned to observing the ground below them. I breathed a sigh of relief and snuck over to the vent entrance. This time, I couldn’t melt the vent cover, which could alert either guard up here. It was a matter of losing important data or shapeshifting into something small. Stupid powers.

I slid the device carefully between the vent slits and watched out for the humans hearing me. Once it was as far as my claws could push it, I focused on an insect to shapeshift on. Painfully, my body crunched and slowly lost its size to be the length of an inch.

An extra set of legs grew from my sides and a shell took the place of my wings. One long horn protruded from where my nose would be. The top of my body had hardened to protect myself from larger predators.

Once the pain subsided mostly, the shift from Draconic to Horned Dung Beetle was complete. The shell on my back spilt to show the two bug wings hiding underneath. I shakily got myself into the air and latched onto the vent cover. From this position, I noticed one of the guards gazing over here again then glancing to the other guard. Crap, forget that shapeshifting makes a little bit of noise.

Without wasting any more time, I slipped past the vent with a little trouble and landed quietly next to the tablet. My horn came in handy as I carefully pushed the device away from the vent cover to the ledge. Being this small made the drop into the ventilation system more scary than it really is.

Carefully and quietly, I shapeshifted back into my normal form and grabbed the tablet. Hopefully this device has a Trojan coding to slip into the main frame. If not, this job was going the be even harder than it already is. See, this is why I need my watch back… I was surprised I hadn’t seen anymore Aztec soldiers since interacting with the two. Was Zayden actually listening to me? Ha, to Hell with that.

Soldiers seemed to be crawling all over inside of the base, worse than last time. There could also be a super human or two in here to protect what information Jasper was holding. My nerves were jittery and my heartbeat rise as I continued to over think.

Nervously, I crawled through the vents, carefully listening to any nearby Jasper soldier. Some would stop, waiting for long moments before moving along. Did they know I was here already? That couldn’t be, the alarm would already been set off and I would be chains.

Two guards stood inside of the room, high powered guns in their grasp and gaze focused on the surrounding room. Another pair of soldiers were posted on the other side of the door. Four humans to watch out or kill if need be.

I dropped down silently and snuck over to a computer camouflaged. It was on and surprisingly someone was already logged onto their account. What the…?

My senses fanned out and found there was another person in here. How did I miss that? It had to be the stupid tingling, I blame the twins for my distraction. I quickly plugged into the computer and looked through the data this base held.

A shiver raked my body at the sight of what some folders were named. One had the names of all the children they kidnapped. Another had some videos of the area and the training rooms at the main base where everything goes down. A folder that caught my attention was… mine. I stepped back in shock and fear, barely able to notice footsteps moving around.

Said noise got closer, quick. I grabbed all the important folders and had the download start then faced the human. A technician rounded the corner, head down and reading something on a tablet. My eyes widened in shock. I did the next best thing and chucked an icicle at them.

The shard of ice pierced her chest. She fell without another sound. The tablet fell as well, clanking loudly against the floor and alerting the guards. I cussed under my breath and charged towards where the soldiers.

Both stood on guard, scanning for what caused the noise. I didn’t waste any time and lunged on the nearest human. My claws dug into human flesh and definitely drawing blood. He opened his mouth to scream but I reacted swiftly and sliced his throat. The red, thick substance pooled under him, most of it coming from his throat.

The three other soldiers aimed their guns, ready to fire. I didn’t give them the opportunity to and slammed my fist down on the ground. Deadly spikes of ice shot out and stabbed them. Blood coating the icicles.

Their guns clicked against the ground, alerting me they were disarmed. I got to my feet and rushed over to the computer knowing I had to get out. Where’s the alarm though?

Only three of the ten folders had been downloaded. My eyes glanced over to the four dead bodies then back to the screen. These were important and William needed these to have a chance against Jasper. I sighed and peered at the blood dripping off of my claws. Be patient and be on guard.

On the second to last folder, soldier’s marching through the halls could be heard. My hackles raised and danger buzzed once more. I snuck over to the door and crouched on the right side of the door.

Those soldiers got closer until they stopped right before the sever room door. My claws curled slightly as the handle turned… The door opened and revealed another four Jasper soldiers. They reacted immediately and aimed their guns at anything that moved.

My scales were camouflaged so they couldn’t see me but that wouldn’t last for long. I pounced on the nearest human, claws tearing her flesh like paper. Her scream echoed through the halls as she tried to get me off of her. I refused for the human to escape and twisted her neck.

A satisfying pop cut her voice and she slumped to the floor. I wasted no time to leap onto another unsuspecting soldier. Gun shots rang out and then the deafening sound of a alarm covered the sudden noises. Crap.

I sent out two fireballs to the last soldiers, their bodies bursting into flames and falling to the ground. My talons scrapped for traction against the concrete as I rushed back over to the computer.

The other two folder had been downloaded in that time, thankfully. I grabbed the tablet and rushed out of the room like a bat out of Hell, allowing myself to be seen once more. Only to skid to a stop at the huge figure standing at the end of the hall.

A juggernaut of the destructor class. Crap. These guys were nearly impossible to take down, let alone kill.

He held a smug smirk and lowered his front, ready to charge. Dread built deep, in the pit of my stomach at the sight of him. Then my focus was brought back to the device in my hand; I had to protect it until I can get it to William or at least any other soldiers.

Outside of the building and over the alarm, gunfire caught my attention. William must have heard the alarm and sent in his team to help out.

The superhuman charged, a crazed look in his eyes. His footsteps shook the ground slightly at each pound. I acted on instinct and created a wall of ice to somewhat slow him down. It shattered like glass, not doing anything to stop him. Double crap.

At the last second, I surrounded the device in ice to protect it and slid it past him. His large body slammed into mine and continued charging. He forced all the oxygen out of my lungs and possibly cracked a rib or two. I gasped for air and tried to get him off of me.

The wall met my back, knocking what air was left in my lungs out. I clawed at his skin, futilely attempting to get him off of me. My chest burned at the lack of oxygen as he wrapped a hand around my throat, cutting off all ways for air.

This can’t be the way I die, by a common juggernaut! My talons only left red marks on his skin, not even drawing blood. Tears prickled the corners of my eyes. Fear of dying consuming me. Fight!

Heat rushed to my fingers as motivation flooded me. I released the real me from hiding. My body grew to accommodate the scarier, deadly side of me. The same heat doubled in power, leaving burn marks in the concrete behind me.

Confusion grew in his eyes from my sudden growth, his grip slipping in the slightest. An opening for me to get out. I summoned a small fire ball to explode between the two of us. It sent him flying back, skidding across the slick concrete floor. My body creating a dent in the concrete and jerking my already aching ribs.

I pushed myself off and went immediately into offense by slamming my foot down. More deadly icicles protruded from the ground and headed straight for him. The ice shattered on contact when it tried to pierce his chest. Ugh, I forgot juggernauts’ skin is impossible to break, making them hard to injure or kill.

The juggernaut chuckled, it rumbled deep in his chest. “Pathetic. Did you seriously think your little ice powers were going to work on me? You break like a stick and I? Well you should know by now you can’t kill me,” he taunted and got to his feet. His shirt was burned but his skin had no sign of damage besides the light red irritated color.

Well, we’re about to find that out truly. I formed a small ball of fire, feeding it quickly with all of the energy my body held. The juggernaut furrowed his brows then laughed, believe he was truly invisible.

He moved away from me to end of the long hallway, turned around, and lazily jogged towards me. “Give me your best shot,” he sneered. His words only fueled the fire literally growing between us.

It continued to grow in size, giving off high temperatures. The juggernaut noticed the size of the fire ball and quickened his speed until he was charging once more. I held it in front of me and waited for the perfect moment.

Right before he reached me, I released the energy and was blinded by the light. My body was sent back into the wall behind me and fell face first. I glanced up and saw the building falling down around us. The juggernaut was nowhere to be seen… did it work?

Exhausted, I watched as the roof fell on me, unable to do anything, and-


	16. Chapter 16

Pain raked my body when I came to. A large amount of weight bared down on me, trapping me under whatever was holding me. I frailly attempted to push up to get on my elbows but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. Who was there?!

Someone spoke but their voice barely heard over the ringing in my ears. I struggled under the debris to get away from whoever was there. Yet, there was no feeling of danger. My mind was scramble so there could be danger and I wouldn’t know.

The buzz grew nearly to be overwhelming as my senses were swamped, trying to figure out what was happening. I pushed it away to the best of my abilities and felt some of the weight on my backside disappear. It continued to lessen until it completely vanished.

Two pair of hands wrapped around my biceps and lifted me out of where I was trapped. My mind wanted to fight against the humans handling me but my body refused to move anymore. Those hands gently set me down on my back.

My wings were more than sore, one possibly out of socket. While lying there, another voice spoke, sounding a little more worried and hastily. I groggily open my eyes and noticed the sky was darkening. How long has it been?

A familiar face moved into my line of sight. William’s tensed expression relaxed slightly when he saw me and he kneeled down next to me. His mouth moved but what he said was hard to hear. “-safe…fallen-dead-gone.” It sounded like he was talking with cotton in his mouth.

When he noticed I wasn’t responding, he grew worried again and turned to speak with someone else. I tilted my head in the same direction and saw Ironhide and the twins standing there. The latter met their gaze with mine, the tingling reacted; the only other thing I could feel in my body. Lennox’s voice carried over the area to Ironhide.

I refused to lie there, helpless among humans, and struggled to get on my hands and knees. Robert moved to my side and pushed gently against me for me to lie back down. He spoke to me but just like William, it was muffled and hard to hear.

With some stumbling, I got to my feet and leaned heavily against a pole. The surrounding area was completely destroyed and burned terribly. None of William’s soldiers seemed to be burned, thankfully or else said man wouldn’t be very happy with me. There was no sign of the juggernaut, did it work? It better have because I’m not doing that again.

William rested a hand on my shoulder, catching my attention. “Azar? Are… are you okay? What happened?”

Randomly, I remembered the tablet stuck under all of this rubble. I made a point to ignore William and felt around for the icebox.

Down at the bottom, off to my left. I sense a small amount of my ‘magic’ and summoned it. Pain echoed in my hand from the call. The rubble above it shock slightly before moving out of the way. A small box made of ice floated over to William and dropped at his feet. “Tablet,” I slurred and withdrew the ice protecting the device.

The major picked up the tablet and glanced over to me. “Thank you but you didn’t answer my questions.” I met his gaze, looking a little drunk.

“Does anything… look broken?” His brows furrowed and he scanned my body.

He gently took hold of my right hand and looked over the many cuts littering that arm. “Well, I only see cuts but Ratchet needs to see you. What happened? Why did the base blow up and how did it not burn any of us?”

I pushed him away and stumbled through the debris, following my internally instinct. One of the twins, I didn’t care who, scooped me off of the ground. With the feeling of safety surrounding me, I gently drifted off into peaceful sleep.

Darkness swallowed me, holding me its grasp. It slowly suffocated me the longer I stayed and forced me to fight. This nearly same scenario only happened two or so weeks ago. I knew what had to be done and swam through the inky blackness.

It clung onto me like gum and tried to keep me in this weird place. I fought against it, light bleeding through above me until it engulfed my ghost like body.

My eyes snapped open and pain flooded my senses. Whatever I was lying on felt soft and allowed my body to sink into. I pulled myself up to sit up and gazed around a familiar sight: the Med. Bay. Ratchet stood off to my right, messing around with something on the table in front of him. My hand randomly flew up to the center of my chest.

All of my thoughts were scrambled, unable to form any coherent sentences internally. I slipped off of the cot someone set me on, needing to get on my feet, and tripped over my talons. The muscles in my legs ached at the sudden weight and refused to stand.

A yelp of pain alerted Ratchet of my awakening. The neon bot turned around and rushed over to me, helping me to my feet. “What are you doing?! You shouldn’t be up and walking around,” Ratchet grounded and forced me to sit on the cot.

But he didn’t have my full attention. I raised my hands and stared at the wrappings protect possible injuring. Ratchet relaxed and gently petted the top of my head. “Do… do you remember what happened two days ago?” he questioned timidly and place his finger on the underside of my chin. The bot changed my gaze up on him, concern evident in his blue orbs.

“Y-yeah,” I answered with a croak. “I just… freaked out. Where’s William? Is he okay? And his soldiers?” I threw back and unfurled my wings for them to rest on the cot.

Bewilderment washed over his face. “You need to focus on yourself more than him,” his voice hardened at the statement. He received an eye roll from me. Little did he know, I could survive worse than I did this time.

“I’m fine, a few cuts and bruises won’t kill me. I need to go talk with him. The informa-“ I started but Ratchet interrupted me.

“Is the least of your worries. If you won’t worry about yourself, I’ll make you worry myself because femme. I swear next time you come in here after pulling a stunt like that, I’ll keep you in here until this damn thing is over, alright?” The concern his voice only grew the more he talked. Why was he fretting over me? Was he caring about me in a different manner?... Like a father?

I slipped off of the bed once more and moved away from him. Not for long though. Ratchet picked me off of the table he had me on and dropped me down on the cot, again. “Stay or I’ll weld your aft down.” He pointed a threatening finger at me and gave me a stern look. “I’ve contacted Optimus that you have awakened. He’ll alert William and then you can talk to him but you stay on this berth or I swear.” I rolled my eyes for the second time and crossed my arms in a pout.

He scoffed at my actions and moved over to his original spot. “Pout all you want. You’re staying here until I deem you are well enough to leave.” Under his breath, he muttered, “sparkling’s.” I may not know what that is but I take offence to that.

Our conversation ended on that note. Ratchet worked on whatever was in his grasp and I continued to pout, unable to move. Who did he think he was? My dad? Sorry bucko, that spot is clearly taken. But what was he wanting in return is my question? Anyone who does a favor for you or acts kindly towards you always needs something.

So what did the big, neon yellow bot wanted me do while I’m on medical leave, again. Play cards with him? Answer his boring questions? If he’s going to keep me here, he needs to keep me entertained because I bore easily.

It didn’t help my fire powers were nearly empty, so that was off the table. For my water/ice powers, they were under control and I didn’t want to waste any energy. My healing abilities were more focused on mending any large injuries like my ribs or wings. Which in return made me tired and hungry; I’m surprised that Ratchet hasn’t force feed me more food.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the food he gives me but consuming five thousand calories a day is hard. I’m use to going weeks without eating anything. That does come with a repercussion where I fall into a small hibernation. Heh, Zayden was surprised when we first sat down after he rescued me. To this day, I still remember the face he made as I went for fifths.

Good memories of my three years with Zayden and Aztec flashed in my mind. A sorrowful smile grew on my face and tears pooled in my eyes. Once all this is over, I will finally be able to go back to my family. Or, at least, the ones that cared for me like Zayden and Jeremy. Well, actually, probably only Zayden.

Jeremy… he believes I’m dead. He has his own family to take care of: his girlfriend and one kid on the way. To come and think about it, it’s for the best he continues to believe I was gone.

What has my family come to? Fighting over one of their children who has the power to devastate a major city with the flick of her wrist.

While stuck in my thoughts, someone interrupted me. “Thirteen hundred confirmed kills?! Thirteen!” William’s voice rang throughout the hangar. I snapped my gaze over to him and noticed the fear and anger in his eyes. Oh, he found out.

Ratchet came to my rescue and stepped in front of him before he could take another step. “Will, it’s nice to see you but what are you yelling about?” The human peered up at the bot towering over him, a scowl washing over his face.

He pointed firmly over at me, clearly fuming over the newfound information. Did I accidently grab those files? Yeah, I saw them but I didn’t realize that I downloaded them too. “That thing-” I flinched, hurt at the word he used- “has over thirteen hundred confirmed kills. I knew from the get-go she belongs in the brig. She’s a serial killer.”

I hid behind my shoulders in a pathetic way to protect myself from the truth. Why didn’t I see this coming? It was only a matter of time before someone on this base, whether it be human or robot, found out how bloody my claws are.

Of course William didn’t look close enough to know that Jasper made me do those things. Anytime someone hears how many I have killed, they always give me disgusted or frightful looks. What’s Ratchet going to think about this? Is he going to sedate me? Use one of wrenches on me? Squash me?

None of those things. “Will, you do remember she was under control when she was at Jasper. What information we have gathered from them and her is they create soldiers from innocent people,” Ratchet argued back, defending me. Why though? What was he gaining from that?... My respect for one but that doesn’t benefit him one bit.

His words silenced the major. Lennox opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water as he tried to find his voice. “W-well, I-I didn’t lo-look at it t-that way.” Again with ignorance! I slid off of the cot, my ribs protesting, and glided down to the human. We needed a talk, once more.

William stumbled back a couple of steps, fear evident in his stance. I furled my wings timidly to not scare him off. Ratchet opened his mouth to speak but I stopped him by holding up my hand. ”William, I never wanted you to know of… that part of me. As I have stated me before, that’s not me anymore. Well, besides killing Jasper soldiers. But we all know in war, causalities are inevitable.”

“My past has shaped me into the person I am today. That’s why I’m here, risking my hide to keep your soldiers safe. I’ve changed. I’m here to help, to take any bullet fired at your team. I know that no matter the good I do until I die will right all the wrongs in my life. That doesn’t stop me though. I also know that anything I do won’t bring back all the lives I’ve taken. All I want to do from now on is save people… Be someone my father can be proud of.” That last sentence wasn’t meant to slip out but it was the truth.

Tears rolled down my cheeks uncontrollable. I stared straight in William’s eyes, mixed emotions swirling inside of me. He made no comment after all that I had to say. But to me, I knew his next action and held my arms out to him, hands curled. “But that doesn’t matter. I’ve killed people and have to punished. Slap them on, I guess,” I said, exhausted.

William did grab my wrist but only to push them away. “No, you don’t deserve to be put in prison,-“ I was shocked from hearing his words-“ though I doubt any of them could house you. That’s beside the point. I have judged your… different features since you first arrived unconscious. When you told me about the things that Rue and Cyrus have done to you, I realized to not judge a book by its cover.”

“When I looked through your file, I will admit I was disgusted and acted first on that. I… I’m sorry.” He placed his hand on my shoulder and gazed slightly up at me. “You are saving people, you did two days ago. That explosion was the perfect distraction. There were a few more Decepticons there than we predicted. Thank you.”

Ratchet came back into our conversation, continuing to defend me. “William, I hope this is a learning experience for you and your kind. And for you femme, get back to your berth, or Primus help me.”

Before I could turn and fly back up to the cot, Lennox stopped me. “When you’re well enough, we need to debrief you on what happened. So come by the Main Hangar when you have the chance.”

“Alright, it all depends on-“ I motioned with my head towards the giant robot next to me. Most of William’s tension had passed and allowed for him to laugh. He took his leave and exited the Med. Bay. I unfurled to take off and pulled at my sore ribs.

“Ep-ep-ep. You aren’t flying, young lady,” Ratchet declared and scooped me off of the ground. “You really like to irritate me.” There was a playful tone under his voice, meaning he wasn’t completely serious. He carried me over to the table I was originally on.

A mischievous smirk graced my lips. “I’m a very stubborn draconic. You should know this by know. You tell me to do something; I just have an urge to do the opposite.”

The bot gently sets me down on the cot, but not leaving me to my own devices. “Well you and the Terror Twins are going to get along just fine then.” I tilted my head like a lost puppy. Who were they? Wait… Is he talking about Sides and Sunstreaker? They are twins and like to cause trouble.

“Who are the Terror Twins?” Randomly, the buzz sprung to life, catching a little of my attention. Sides or Sunstreaker must be nearby. I sat up a bit higher and gazed over to the hangar doors, on the lookout for them. What was I doing?! Don’t get attached, they’ll only leave you once they know what William knows.

“Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. They have surely earned the name Terror Twins from both on the field or on base .” Aw that reminds me, I never got to see them fight while I broke into the Jasper data center. Dang.

After answering my question, Ratchet turned and returned to his work station. I sat in the calm silence and couldn’t help my gaze retuning to the hangar entrance. My hand grazed over the center of my chest, feeling electricity zap my fingers. It didn’t hurt me though. Ugh, what has my life turned to?

Two alien robots as my soulmates, yeah that wouldn’t happen. And if it did, I feel bad for them, having me as their other half. They’ve been fighting a war for however long and now they learn that I’m their soulmate.

Well once they hear the amount of lives I’ve taken, they’ll want nothing to do with me. They’re just like everyone else… not including Ratchet who defended me. He just learned that I’ve killed over thirteen hundred humans and didn’t even bat an eye. Why? Why does he care? Why did he step up and tell William off?

Maybe one I day, I’ll learn of the answer but not today.


	17. Chapter 17

Humans milled around the Main Hangar. Their overwhelming odors caused a headache to arise. Why are there so many of them? I carefully flew over to where William was having a conversation with one of his soldiers.

The major acknowledged me with a silent nod and ended his talk with the other human. “Hey, Azar, it’s good to see you up. How’s your ribs?” I landed next to him, the catwalk rattle under my talons. Suspicion grew inside of me as I gazed down at him.

“Better. I guess you can’t walk away from a building falling on you with no injuries,” I attempted to make a joke of my predicament. Why not test how much he has changed from last time we talked. He laughed with a relaxed smile washing over his features and led me over to a free table. I took the invitation and sat down across from him. “I’m here on your request to discuss what happened inside of the data center. I won’t go into detail, to save your breakfast, but I’ll give the jest of it.”

He dipped his head and snatched a tablet from unsuspecting soldier sitting at computer. “The stage is yours.” I began a moment after of how I broke in by shapeshifting; sneaking through the ventilation system, which he praised me for; killing off the guards; downloading the data; then meeting the juggernaut. Just like any normal human, curiosity consumed him.

“What is a juggernaut?” I motioned for the device in his hand and scrolled through the folders until finding the one. William took it back once I offered and glanced over the information.

“These guys are nearly invincible, on the outside. Aztec learned a way to easily defeat them once you get one of them on the ground. Bullets bounce off of them, my claws did nothing, and ice barely leaves a red mark on their skin,” I gave a rundown of what the folder probably held. “For the longest time, I thought fire did nothing to them until two days ago.”

His eyes met mine, curiosity growing in them. “The explosion. You did that. But how did you control to only hit Jasper soldiers? None of N.E.S.T soldiers or Autobots were touched.” I what? My main focus was taking down the juggernaut, nearly forgetting about the thirty or so good guys on the outside.

Well, he couldn’t know that was a mistake. For reason best left secret, I decided to play where I had totally control of that situation. “Magic. When you have these powers for so long, it gets easier to handle them,” I lied smoothly and rest an elbow on the table.

Even after sitting here for a few minutes, there were still so many eyes on me. Couldn’t they just buzz off? Leave me alone? Is it seriously that hard? Screw humans. They suck.

“That leaves me with one more question: how did Aztec take them down? So we know if we ever face one without you there to save us.” I nervously scratched the back of neck and debated telling him the gruesome way Zayden and his team kill a juggernaut. He must have noticed my hesitancy. “It can’t be that bad.”

Oh but it is. “You decide. I was the one that usually knocked them down to incapacitate them. Then one of Zayden’s soldiers would shove a C4 into their mouth. I ice it over and run like Hell. The C4 would blow their brain to bits,” I explained and leaned back in my chair, arms crossed.

One of the soldiers nearby choked on her spit. William snapped his gaze to her and glared, a warning underling his stern expression. She immediately sputtered an apology and resumed her work the moment after. The major gazed back over to me with a pale look. “Ye-yeah, I-I guess it is that bad. Sorry for asking.”

I stood up from my spot and pushed in the chair. “I’m going to take my leave. But I will tell you this, if you want to stand a chance against Jasper, read everything on there.”

William followed my actions and held out his hand for me to shake. I gingerly take a hold of his offered limb. “I will, thank you. But you need to take it easy and you better walk down those stairs. Ratchet is supposed to be here any minute.” I rolled my eyes at his warning, not taking him serious, and took off to land on the guardrail.

My talons wrapped around the top bar, securing me for only a couple minutes. I pumped my wings and headed out of the Main Hangar, only to come to a screeching stop. Should’ve listened to William. “Azar! What did I tell you?” Uh oh.

After being chewed out by Ratchet in front of a bunch of humans, I stomped out of there with little dignity left. Stupid robot.

His threats didn’t stop me from taking to the sky once out of sight. My wings ached from the pulled muscles and lack of flight. The wind glided gently over my scales as I soared high into the sky and enjoyed every moment of freedom. No one, and I mean no one could take this away from me.

Just like any other human on base, curiosity grabbed me tight in its claws. I knew a couple of what the human buildings were on their side and a select few on the Autobots.

For the human side, I knew the barracks, the shower racks, and the medical wing. That was all. On the other side of the base, Ratchet’s Med. Bay, the Main Hangar, and the Rec. room. So why not go in an in-depth solo tour?

For some odd reason, a small part of me jumped in excitement. I immediately blamed it on the thought of flying around… but that didn’t settle well in my stomach. It was ridiculous I was acting this way over the small fantasy of having a soulmate, in this case, two soulmates. Who was I kidding?! The only person in this universe that will love me is my dad. Sure enough, my mom wants me only for my powers. And well, my brother thinks I’m dead.

Why did I keep thinking this is going to work out? None of the gods of any world would give me enough pity to allow me to experience compassion. My entire mood dropped. The muscles in my chest tightened painfully and twisted. I grazed my claws over the area and felt electricity touch the tips of my fingers.

A sigh escaped me as my mind reeled back to reality. I realized my wings had nearly taken me out of the base’s boundaries and turned sharply in the other direction. William hasn’t given me the go-ahead to be able to leave the grounds and has firmly stated for me to stay, repeatedly. I abandoned the thought of exploring the base more, no longer in the mood to do so.

My eyes flickered over any building nearby until they landed on the big, burly, black weapon specialist. Said bot seemed to be running drills with some humans. Mirage stood next to him, his foot tapping quietly, possibly bored of the situation. I couldn’t blame him one bit though, humans were boring themselves and weak.

Both bots were more focused on the soldiers and didn’t notice me landing on a street lamp on the edge of the training area. My tail instinctively wrapped around the hollow bar underneath me. I furled my wings carefully and watched with rapt attention on what they taught.

Ironhide motioned for Mirage to step forward, snapping the red bot out of his thoughts. The bigger bot explained a few things, talking about the weak points between their armor. It reminded me of a knight, the places to hit were the seams, like the back of their knees. Oh, I most definitely needed to remember that for next time.

The weapon specialist gestured towards Mirage’s neck, another weak point. They didn’t have any armor there for the highest mobility. Ironhide continued to point out any vulnerable spots their kind has and making a huge effort for the humans to know to aim there. Yeah, as if-

“Wha’cha ya doin’ all by yar self?” a sudden voice snatched my attention on them. I whirled around, nearly falling off, and stared down at the small visor bot. My heart pounded in staccato rhythm, causing my breathing to quicken. “Hey, it’s al’ight. Ah didn’ mean ta scare ya.”

I cleared my throat in an attempt to get rid of my embarrassment. “Oh, hey, Jazz, right?” I changed the spotlight onto him, for an extra moment to calm myself over something minor.

He nodded his head with a kind, gentle smile. “Yep, tha’s meh. How are ya doin’ af’er yar las’ run in with da Decepticreeps and those Jaspe’ guys?” Jazz responded and leaned against the street pole I was on. It groaned in protest and bent slightly but didn’t falter completely under his weight.

With his calming aura and ease of talking, I felt the tension in my shoulders slowly dissipate. My own smile washed away the frown I originally had. “Better.” To make a point, I unfurled my wings half way, rotated them a little, and then folded them. “Ratchet has me taking it easy, of course, but you can’t take the flight from of a dragon.”

Jazz gave me a ‘really’ look, I think, it’s hard to tell with the visor. “Ah wouldn’ unde’estimate the medic if ah was ya. Hatchet can be scary if ya ge’ on his bad side.” His tone was warning me and I shouldn’t take it with a grain of salt.

“Yeah, I already know that. William warned me but I didn’t listen and he came out of nowhere. Let it be said, I got my butt chewed. But now I know to be more on the lookout for him. You learn from your mistakes.” Jazz chuckled and smirked.

“Well don’ say ah didn’ warn ya. Tha’s no’ why ah came over here though. Ah wanna ta ge’ ta know the newes’ member, if ya yarself wanna ta learn something’s abou’ meh or da team in trade?” the bot offered. I do have my own questions about the Autobots and the Decepticons. To come and think about it, no one has actually gave me a rundown of what’s really going on between the two.

I dipped my head to accept the offer. “Sure, I wouldn’t mind but I have the right to refuse to answer any questions at any time if I want to. Shoot.”

The things he wanted to know about me were far from what I thought he was going to ask. Instead of questioning about my life or past, he asked about my favorite music, favorite movies, and so forth. All of them I had no problem answering, none of them were an invasion of my privacy. All in all, Jazz seemed to be your laid back friend.

Friend? Friend. Could I consider him a friend? Is that too quick? We only met twice before: the discussion about Jasper and him getting me to have Optimus introduce me to everyone. I already knew the answer to that silly question: I always get attached to others quickly. For most of my life, I’ve been without anyone to truly care for. My sudden attachment to others is a side effect of that.

That didn’t stop the anger from growing deep inside of me. Why was I this way? Of course, I knew the answer for that and blamed it all on Rue. She did this to me.

“Azar? Ya al’ight?” Jazz’s voice brought me back into reality. My gaze locked onto his visor and I cleared my throat.

“Yeah, just thinking, you know. Anyway,” I turned the attention on him,” I get to ask some of my own questions. First off, what’s the deal between you guys and the Decepticon’s? All I know is you two are fighting but that’s all.”

He tilted his head back slightly, seeming a little surprised. “No one has told ya?” I responded with a confirmed nod. “Huh, well ta give ya uh rundown, we’ve been figh’in’ this war for millions of human years. It’s even olde’ than the Terro’ Twins, Blue, Smoke, and Bee. It even des’royed our plane’ and tha’s why we are here. The Cons are ‘rying ta ‘ake ove’ yar plane’ as their own.”

Their war destroyed their home planet?! And I thought my war was bad. They’ve almost lost everything besides their team. To be honest, I pitied them and made it my goal to help them take down the Decepticons once and for all.

“I’m sorry to hear that. If you ever need anything, I’m here at your disposal,” was all I could say.

Jazz waved his hand to brush off my sentence. “Don’ be. It happened and there’s nutting ta it. Wha’ else do ya have rollin’ around inside yar helm?” I decided to get to know him a little by asking the same questions he asked before. The answers I got from him were a bit shocking besides the music. Of course the bot likes jazz and swing. He definitely had the aura around him to like that genre of tunes. But another question came to mind.

“What’s a femme? Ratchet keeps calling me that.” Jazz laughed with ease and pushed off of the street pole.

“Don’t ge’ yar exhaus’ pipe in a twist. It ain’t anythin’ bad. Femme is th’ equivalen’ of female in human terms. Like mech is th’ same as male. I’m uh mech, Ratchet is uh mech, the twins are mechs, everybot on base is uh mech.” Now I felt embarrassed for thinking it was a weird pet name or worse, a degrading word.

After the exchange of knowledge between us, we both went our separate ways. My wings carried me over to the other side of the training grounds for humans. It was a small pocket of ground borderlining the chain link fence surrounding the base. Who was there caught me off guard. Well not completely because of the connection.

The twins were circling each other, two blades in both of their hands. Their gaze trained of the other bot, studying and calculating their next move.

An urge over came me. The scales covering my body camouflaged in the surrounding area. I silently flew over to the top of a random hangar, the nearest one to them. The buzz grew noticeably at each foot lost between us. My heartbeat increased and caused the organ to pound against my sternum.

Nausea washed over me for just a moment. My wings faltered and nearly made me crashed into the hangar. I grabbed at my head in confusion as the feeling disappeared just as quickly as it came. What was that? I stuck that memory to the side so I could bring it up for Ratchet. Maybe he could tell me.

I quietly landed on the roof and settled down on the ridge. My gaze found the two forms of the twins. Their circling had changed from before. Sides was jabbing test-like with the one of the blades on his arms. His brother used his own blades to block the red twin and instead, took the open opportunities to attack back.

Their blades clashed as they continued the trade between offense and defense. Both were skilled by the looks of it, quick and agile on their wheeled feet. A deadly duo for sure.

Not long after my arrival, a need to be closer to them spoiled my relaxed demeanor. Couldn’t I just sit here and watch them without the connection getting in the way? Of course not.

The lack of clanking metal caught my attention and brought me out of my thoughts. Eyes could be felt on my body, even though it shouldn’t be possibly. My gaze snapped over to the onlookers and found the twins had stopped and were staring straight at me. Welp, I was caught. I revealed myself to the two.

Sides was the first to depart from his spot and glided over to me, an upbeat ‘kick’ in his stroll. “What’s a femme like you doing all by yourself?” he questioned in a cheeky tone. I rolled my eyes and moved to the edge of the roof, careful to not fall.

“Boredom,” I answered simply and grew aware at the electricity crackling behind my sternum. “Ratchet was growing irritated of my constant nagging to be let out.” Well, that wasn’t the truth. The medic deemed I was fit enough to leave the Med. Bay only if I take it easy. “No one can cage me, and that’s a promise.” For an odd reason, I felt at ease around him. A part of me told me to keep my guard up but I brushed that off without much thought.

His twin made an appearance and stood with little tension in his shoulders next to Sides. “Azar,” he greeted with a modest nod. A shiver racked my body, him saying my name had an effect on me. It was the first time he actually called me ‘Azar’. Why though? Why was it any different from his brother saying my real name? I returned the gesture and sat down on the roof to relax on this cloudy, cold day.

A smug smirk grew on his features but it washed away just as quick. Dang, he saw. Sides also had the same look, unlike his brother, he allowed for it to stay. Oh, come on, both of them noticed!? “So Azar, anything you would like to do? Go for another trip around Colville? Race each other? Hang in the Rec. room until Ratchet wants you back?” the red bot offered.

At first, I wanted nothing to do with them, knowing that I was getting attached. It was too late, I was too far down the rabbit hole to fly or climb out. “Hanging in the Rec. room sounds good to me. I don’t need Ratchet finding out I was out flying or he may go through with his promises.”

Both of them chuckled with a knowing look, though Sunstreaker was trying to suppress his. “Yeah, we sure know he does like throwing his wrenches. Anyway, here.” Sides held out his hands, palms up. I stared at him, hesitant and confused on what he wanted me to do. “You did say you didn’t want him to find out you were flying.” The mech wanted me to land on his hands?!

“I-uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I can just glide down,” I declined his offer.

Sides made an effort to get me to land on his hands. “Please,” he begged and had the same puppy dog look that Anna uses. She did learn it from him.

“Fine, fine! Alright.” I leaped off of the roof and landed expertly on the small landing pad he gave. At our contact, the electricity went haywire and nearly made me crumple to my knees. I snapped my gaze to the bot holding me, wanting nothing but to hate. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to do so.

He seemed to be having the same reaction but was able to recover quicker. It subdued a couple of moments later, leaving my entire body feeling fuzzy. “What in hell was that?” I grounded out and half-heartily glared at Sides.

Said Cybertronian was at a loss for words. Sunstreaker came to his rescue and moved carefully to his right side. “Are you two okay?” he questioned and timidly reached out towards, seeming a little scared to touch me.

I pressed my hand against the center of my chest, electricity crackled inside of me. “I… uh, I think I am. What about you, Sides?” The bot in question dipped his head and hummed in thought.

“Yeah, I guess we might want to be a little more carefully when touching each other.” Sides gently dumped me on his shoulder and turned to face his twin. I stood there, unsure on what I should do and stared bewildered at Sunstreaker. “Azar, it’s safer if you sit down.”

“Uh, you want me to sit down on your shoulder?” My claws carefully gripped the plating underneath them to ensure I didn’t fall.

“Yes, it’s alright, you aren’t going to hurt me,” he reassured, a kind tone to his voice. Sunstreaker followed his brother by giving me a reassuring look. I hesitantly sat down with my legs dangling over what would be the backend of his car form. He turned to me and smiled brightly. “See, now to get this show on the road. To the Rec. room!”

Sides took off swiftly and draped a hand over my lap to keep me there. His twin gave chase. The three of us going to hang out with each other and relax for the rest of the day.


	18. Chapter 18

“Ratchet, something weird happened,” I stated, fear leaking into my voice. “Two weird things happened, actually.”

The twins and I had to separate when Prowl called for them. We had been hanging out for a few hours and despite the crackling of energy in my chest, it was relaxing. Of course, my guard was still up but not to its full extent the longer I stayed with them.

Said bot in questioning turned around to face me. Concern clearly evident in his blue orbs. He seemed to scan his gaze over my frame, possibly looking for any injuries “What happened?” The medic moved over to stand in front of me and offered his hand to stand on. I accepted his offer without hesitation and landed carefully on the outstretched limb.

My eyes found his as I explained the two incidents. The mech listened quietly and nodded his head when it seemed appropriate. When I had finished, still a little shaken up, he spoke up to give his medical advice. “I don’t believe the nausea is a side effect of the connection but I’ll put it in my notes just in case. For Sideswipe shocking you, that’s from the lack of touch between you three.”

Ratchet carried me over to his desk and set me down. “Wait, what? That doesn’t make any sense. Why do I have to touch them to not get shocked? That sounds a little twisted.”

“Let me rephrase that. I’m guessing you haven’t been around them much since you practically live in here. Your connection with them is kind of like a circuit board. But instead of the energy being lost, it gets stored in you. The longer you go without being at least within close proximity wise with them, the more electricity builds up in you.” The neon yellow bot grabbed a tablet and tapped on it, still being able to talk with me.

“Those two are near each other nearly twenty-four seven which balances their side of the connection. You though? Aren’t. I would recommend being around them for a half an hour each day to allow the electricity to flow.”

I couldn’t believe what he was saying that I should do. “You’re saying that I have to be around them every day? That’ll definitely have them running in the other direction,” I scoffed and crossed my arms roughly.

He gazed down at me, his brows furrowed. “What do you mean by that?”

A depressed sigh escaped me. My gaze fixated on the metal below me, unable to meet his own. “What I mean by that is, once they find out my body count, they’ll want nothing to do with me. You saw how William reacted. Yeah your kind has been much more accepting of me but something’s like that will draw a line. I’m already waiting for them realize they don’t want me as their soulmate and to drop me like a sad sack of potatoes. But worse thi-ng of it all, I’m already at-tached to them and I don’t wa-nt them to leave. But fate is cr-uel to me.” My voice cracked, I, unable to handle the cold, hard truth.

Tears cascaded down my cheeks and a sob threatened to break the silence. Why does this always happen to me? Why does everyone leave me? Why can’t someone love me for who I am?

“Oh, Azar,” he muttered sorrowfully and bumped a finger against my shoulder, gaining some of my attention. “I promise you they won’t leave you. I’ve known those two since they joined the Autobots. If I didn’t think they were right for you, I would’ve warned you and find a way to break it. You three are a little closer than you think. Please, Azar, trust my word, they won’t hurt you in any shape or form.” I couldn’t stop the sob and latched onto his digit.

Thankfully, Ratchet didn’t pull away. I cried harder, unable to stop any of the tears falling. It had been years since I last cried like this, in general sobbed. It had been just as long since I’ve found someone I could confide in, tell all of my fears and ball my eyes out. The only other person was my dad, Zayden.

And well, I wouldn’t be able to see him for a long time, until Jasper is at least taken care of.

After sometime, way pass the sun settling, I released my hold on Ratchet. My cheeks burned and I couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye. All I could do was apologize since my actions were way out of line. “I’m sorry Ratchet. Next time, you can just tell me off,” I muttered and took off to head to the rafters.

Ratchet didn’t let me get far though. “Azar, there’s no reason to be sorry. Whatever you want to tell me, you can, I’m not going to judge. I’m here for you,” he stated and sounded sincere. My gaze met his and tears threatened to fall down my cheeks again. “And besides, I don’t you want to be sleeping up in the rafters when you have a perfectly good platform.”

What? The medic gestured over to a slab of metal welded to the side of the hangar, under a window. “I’ve feared ever since you started sleeping up there, you were going to fall. So, I had a couple of contractors build your own little spot close to a window. You can leave whenever you want. I also was able to order some blankets for you.”

Those tears poured down my face without a care in the word. “R-Ratchet, you didn’t have to,” I stuttered, unsure on how I should act, and used my hand to wipe away some tears.

A large, gracious smile grew on his features. “Oh but I did. I couldn’t have you falling off of the rafters in your sleep… and it’s not just that. You’re a good kid, just trying to do some good in the world. Don’t think so poorly about yourself either. For my sake, okay?” He reached up and brushed a few stray tears away, being mindful of my wings.

“Alright, but no promises. I don’t make promises.” That was good enough for him. I took roost in my new bed and enjoyed the soft blankets he got for me. 

Night became day, the sun rising to block out all other stars. Despite the warm, comfortable blankets wrapped around me, I couldn’t get a lick of sleep. Nothing seemed off and no sign of danger so why couldn’t I sleep?

Internally, I kind of had a sneaky suspicion that it had to do with the twins. After what Ratchet told me about having to be around them every single day to keep me from getting ‘shocked’ again, I was redundant of following through. At this time, it was too late to turn around; I had grown attached to them, already. But how would this interspecies relationship work?

To start off a list why it couldn’t: I wasn’t even fully human anymore; there’s two of them which is frowned upon in society; and oh yeah, I’ve killed over two thousand people, including after leaving Jasper and killing their soldiers. Again, that is strongly frowned upon! One last thing, they aren’t human! Well, that didn’t bother me as much as it should but I still put it on the list. Plus, Sunstreaker despises humans with a passion.

What did I get myself into?

When it was still morning, Ratchet came in like usual and handed me my first meal of the day which included four cooked chicken legs, two fried eggs, a few pieces of bacon, and a glass of milk. “Thank you, Ratchet.” He dipped his head to acknowledge my appreciation before exiting the hangar. Huh, where was he going?

Usually at this time, he was working on the tablets his size or some other thing on his desk. But schedules do change and it wasn’t my place or ‘pay grade’ for me to know. Wait a minute. I’m not getting paid! This is child labor… wait, I’m not a kid. Dang it.

As its average, the military’s bases’ food was taste. I devoured the entire plate, a perfect start for the day, and brought it with me to the cafeteria.

Twenty to thirty soldiers crowded the building, either talking or eating, or, disgustingly, both at the same time. I stepped inside, head held high, no care to their glances or words they will mutter. The plate was still in hand as I wandered over to where you return the dish.

All noise of conversations ceased the moment when they noticed my quiet entrance. Many kept their gaze focused on my frame and others returned to their talking or food. Their stares nearly caused a shudder to run down the length of my spine but I was able to reframe showing emotion.

One voice caught my attention above the rest, well more of the words said. “Isn’t she cool? I told you so, Rocky. And she can silence a room without saying anything, just like Boss Bot.” I quickly returned the platter and did a one-eighty to head the direction I just came from.

Another human spoke, close to the first one. “I think it’s because people are afraid of her. Look at her. Those claws can surely do some nasty damage even if they were grazed acrossed your skin. She has water and fire powers. Remember, she was the one that blew up the Jasper base. It fell on her and look at her, it’s been barely, what, four days and she’s prancing around the base like nothing happened. She isn’t cool, she’s freaky and unnatural.”

Flames of anger flickered in my eyes. I stopped dead in my tracks and turned slowly and calculated in the two voices direction. They must have felt me staring and their gaze over to me. Both shrunk down due to my intense gaze and found the ground more interesting.

The sound of my talons tapping against the concrete once more alerted the two. I stalked over to their table, heat blazing underneath my scales. Neither human had the guts to move or look me in the eye and sat there, hands trembling.

Once reaching them, I quietly set a clawed hand down on the end of the table and rest heavily on it. The other humans around us silenced themselves to hear what was about to go down. “Would you like to repeat yourself?” I growled lowly and peered down at the second human.

She fidgeted under my gaze, unable to stay still no matter what she did. “I, uh… I, ummm.” The female glanced over to her partner, silently requesting for help. For her sake, he came to her rescue.

He stood up on shaky legs, clearly frightful of just my presence. If one of them wants to speak ill about me and states that people are scared of me, I guess I should use that to my advantage. “Um, ex-excuse my friend, ple-please… She doe-sn’t k-know better.”

I held my gaze on him. “Well, I guess she should take this as a learning step to not say rude things about powerful and deadly people, in this case, a creature.” My eyes shifted over to the female and I leaned down, instilling fear into her. “Right?”

Her head nodded rapidly but her gaze never met mine. I backed off and took a couple steps away from them to stand closer to the middle of the room. “For everyone in this room, I’m here to take down Jasper and the Decepticons. I don’t entirely care what you say about me but make sure I’m not in the room,” I hissed and strode out of the room.

Fury rolled off of me in waves and blanketed the surrounding area with heat. There wasn’t any reason to get this riled up over the same words my own mother has called me. I blame the connection. Anything that goes wrong or my emotions get a little out of hand, I’ll just fault the stupid crackle of energy.

After getting outside, I take a deep breath of the cold morning air before taking off. Again with humans judging without knowing the whole or at least part of the story. Actually, the male was alright and said that I was cool. Why couldn’t anyone understand that I know I’m ‘freaky and unnatural’? That’s why I make it a mission to avoid mirrors. It wasn’t me anyone looking back, just the partial evidence of what I could’ve been to this day.

My mind swarmed with foul thoughts and caused me to growl deeply. Those humans will never, ever understand the pain I went through and go through to this day just to survive. Never!

A sigh escaped me, I needed to occupy my mind with something else. An idea came to mind. Maybe William has discovered another base or wants me to explain some more things about Jasper. I quickened my speed and turned widely towards the main hangar.

Luck seemed to be on my side, William stood off to the side on the catwalk, talking with Robert and Ironhide. My talons wrapped around the guardrail close to the major. The three quieted down after my arrival and greeted me silently, besides Lennox. “Hey, Azar. What do you need?” he questioned and leaned against the railing.

“Nothing. I’m bored and wanted to see if you have any news about Jasper,” I stated the reason on why I was over here, in a place that caused me to feel anxious. I returned the gestures to Robert and Ironhide, respectfully.

William sorrowfully shook his head. “Sorry, no. But,” he paused and glanced over to Ironhide, confusing me, “you could start training with Hide. You know, learn the ways of a weapon specialist.” His tone sounded like he was poking fun at the brute force standing less than ten feet away from him.

Said bot grunted and crossed his arms, careful of his cannons but made no other sound.

“I bet she would love that, being a mechanophilia after all,” a voice I have only heard once before made a snide comment. My gaze locked onto the only other red bot on this base and set a glare on him which seemed to do jack-squat. “I may despise those two twats but I feel the slightest bad f-“ he was interrupted by William stating his name. I stopped the human from going on and immediately took to the air.

He didn’t take the warning in my eyes. “Actually, you three do belong together. Mindless killers. Worthless.” The first words he decided to call me barely left a scratch but being called worthless struck a nerve. Flames alit in my hands within a thought. It seemed like that was the reaction he wanted. “Delinquents, ignorant and barbaric.”

Bright, hot fire climbed my arms as heat swelled in my chest alongside protectiveness. The back of my throat burned: the true fire of a dragon wanting to be released, I withheld the action. My eyes pierced his, flames roaring in mine.

A strike of fear raced in his eyes. Luckily for him, he saved any other words he wanted to say. That didn’t stop me from speaking my own, in a deep, dangerous, low tone. “I don’t give a rat’s ass on what you call me, I have heard worse from my mother. But, I will not allow for you to speak that way about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker,” I spat, infuriated… for some odd reason.

Flames covered my body from horn to talon; my hair floating effortless with fire coating the strands. I called upon the energy raging chasmicly inside of me and sent swirls of blazing fire to surround the mech. Mirage didn’t back down, either brave or stupid. Most likely the latter.

Ironhide decided smartly to back away and stepped off to the side. His human partner and the other soldier followed suit, possibly unable to stand the heat rolling off of my scales.

I controlled the inferno carefully with just my fingers, loving every moment of the fear growing in his eyes. “Was it bravery or fear that compelled you to say those words? I would say the latter by the look in your eyes but I don’t blame you. You’re right though, I was a mindless killer and barbaric. So all I’m going to leave with you is your dignity. Just for future reference, don’t mess with someone who has the power of the sun and ocean in her grasp.” With that, I drew in the blazing energy and sent it skyward.

The energy exploded high above everyone before it the ceiling and sprinkled down. Nothing would catch fire or burn anyone but would leave the room pleasantly warm from the winter weather.

Mirage tried to act tough as he scrambled out of the hangar with his tail between his legs. Even Ironhide sniggered and turned to me, a prideful smirk on his features. “Nice job kid, the trinket needed to be taught a lesson.” His eyes roamed over my frame and noticing the fire disappearing. “I’ll give you credit for how big your bearings are.”

Pride surged through me as I understood his message, indigo washing away some of the purple of my scales. Yet, something underlining my emotions made me feel anxious and caused me to flee the hangar without another word.

Heat still blazed behind my heart due to the anger that carried through my veins. Why in any world would I defend the two? I barely knew them and they already had me wrapped around their pinkie.

And neither of them knew it.

To them, I was probably a very confused human/dragon mixture who was starved of affection and craved it. That was the complete truth of all of this. I already showed in the main hangar I would defend them even though neither of them were there. It doesn’t matter, a monster doesn’t deserve love or compassion from another being.

The shout of my name being called out stopped me dead in my tracks. I observed the grounds below me and spotted the same two I was just thinking about. Tears sprung up to relieve me of some of my overwhelming emotions.

I turned to surge higher, pass the clouds but was paralyzed to only hover. “Azar, could you please come down? We want to talk to you,” Sides questioned carefully and glanced at his twin for reassurance.

Something internally silently urged me to follow with his request. Worry for what’s to come from his mouth burst through my veins, taking over every ounce of fury. I timidly dove down and hovered hesitantly next to them, ready to bolt.

Sides must have caught on to my nervousness and slowly reached out with his hand. “Are you okay? You look a little freaked out,” he pointed out the obvious. My eyes flickered between the two and the ground. I cleared my throat and gently landed on his palm.

“Ye-yeah, just got in a heated conversation with that red tin can in the main hangar. But what was you wanted to talk about?” I changed the subject. Sides held me eye level with him and his brother.

“Mirage?” he ignored my question. “What did that trinket say that got you riled up?” His voice held a hint of anger in it. I waved his questioned off.

“Nothing, just answer my question.” I made it clear that I didn’t want to explain what happened.

Reluctantly, he listened and deposited me on his brother’s shoulder. “Well, we…” Sides glanced as Sunstreaker for reassurance. “We’ve done a little bit research about human relationships and learned that we were taking things too quickly. So how about we go on another drive/fly? And possibly get to know each other a little more.”

My eyes found his as I contemplated on whether or not to. A part of me wanted to take off and fly as far as my wings could take me. The other side was agreeing with him. A nice fly with a snow storm ready to hit us sounded fun. “Sure but I get to choose were we go this time.”

“Alright, sounds fine with me. Let’s go.” The mech transformed. I took to the sky and watched the yellow twin transformed as well. The two of them peeled off towards the entrance with me on their tail, following them close to the ground.

Within moments, the three of us were on the road.


	19. Chapter 19

Miles upon miles of unknown land were spread below me and I decided to pick a spot to hang out. Now, after flying for a good thirty minutes, it came to me that this was a bad idea. My wings carried me higher in the sky, eyes scanning the forest for anything interesting. Nothing. Just lots of trees and foliage and asphalt roads. Boring.

An aura of worry surrounded the two, or at least one of them. I could feel the tail wisps of it being so far from them. If I was going to take a guess though, it had to be Sides as Sunstreaker barely had any other emotion besides grumpy. Heh, like Ratchet.

Instinctively, my hand grazed over where the tingling originated from. My heart squeezed painfully as foul thoughts popped up. Everyone in my life leaves, either they no longer want to be around me or I’m forced to push them away from their safety. All I bring to this world is death and destruction. Well, Rue did design me to be that way so it’s just irony.

As always, time slowly ticked on with the sun still held high in the sky. Its rays shining down with barely any warmth on this particular day. Clouds hung low and forced me to stay somewhat close to the twins. It would be useless to fly above the dark plumes.

Oh where would I take us? High in the mountains? To gaze down and around like the first place they brought me to. Or what about to a lake or river? The Columbia River did run nearby to Colville if I remembered correctly. That would be too much trouble during the day in the first place though. Too many people on a major river in broad daylight. Where seemed plausible to take them?

Screw it. My wings could lead us on where the wind would carry me. I closed my eyes the next moment, relaxed my arms, and gave complete control to nature. That would either lead to trouble or an amazing discovery.

On a later note, cold droplets sprinkled against my scales and caused my eyes to open. A gently smile adorn my face. It was snowing… I love the snow. I took this as a sign to stop and glanced down to see the twins were far in the distance, struggling on a back road to keep up. Crap, forgot about that.

I dove after them and circled above them, wings brush against the tree tops. Seethe rolled off the yellow Lamborghini who was trailing timidly behind Sides. What was he doing? Why was he driving so slowly? It was going to be midnight by the time we get to the spot Mother Nature chose.

Finally the two got close to the spot. I landed in front of them and furled my wings, content they were being used for a great length of time.

Sunstreaker was the first to transform in a swift, agitated way. Being this close to him, I could feel him seething quite strong now. I tilted my head to the side like a lost puppy and silently questioned the mech. Our gaze met and his resolve seemed to crumble until his brother transformed. The golden mech’s anger returned in full force.

“Were you flying blindly or trying to lose us?” Sides questioned once the last plating slid into place. He tried to hide the hurt in his voice with a light joke.

“Not really either. I was letting the wind guide me but the snow interrupted that,” I answered and held out my hand, palm facing skywards. Snow slowly drifted down to my limb and melted the moment the particles landed. The same smile from before returned, happiness bubbled in my chest from the snow.

Winter had to be my favorite season due to the snow and cold. The latter never bothered be to a degree, it depended on how freezing it was and how long I was stuck in that kind of weather.

Sunstreaker grunted, still seething for some odd reason. His twin glanced at him with a little smirk and bumped his shoulder into him. “Where are we going then?” Sides asked and watched me playing with the flakes floating down.

I shrugged and started heading in the opposite direction of where we came from. The crunch of the rocks under their tires nonverbally told me they were following me.

The snow relentlessly fell to the point the road had disappeared. I turned around to walk backwards and saw our footprints fading off in the distance since the snow was growing thicker. The cold caused the same coexistence energy to race throughout my frame.

Sides happily skated behind me and smile brightly down at me. The yellow twin was trailing slightly after us and glared angrily at every flake that got too close. He would also sometimes swat or shake off the snow accumulating on his shoulders. I laughed at his actions and controlled the snow nearby him to swirl around his frame, protecting him from the frozen particles.

Neither of us said anything but he did at least nod in appreciation. I grabbed a large amount of snow and dumped it on his brother. Mentioned bot stopped, mouth hung open in shock and eyes locked onto my frame. A prideful smirk graced my lips at the sight in front of me.

His twin tried to contain his laughter, main word: tried. Sunstreaker doubled over, burst out guffawing. Sides followed through with the yellow tin can but fell to the ground, sending a flurry of snow upwards.

It took them some time to calm down. Sides got back to his wheels and shook off most of the particles. Some of it clung to his frame. I glanced at the two again then turned back around and headed in the direction we were originally going. “Hey, wait. What was that for?” Sides called after me. I spun around and sent a breeze of snow away from me. He kneeled down to be close to eye level with me.

The corner of my lips tilted up and I shrug once more without giving him a verbal answer. Being this close to him, his face just an arm’s length away, had me subconsciously reaching out.

Something off to our right made noise and drew all of my attention from him. I sprang into action, wings partially unfurled, claws flexed, and canines bared. Whatever it was moved against some bush, rustling the branches and leaves. My eyes narrowed and wildly flickered over the general area.

Both of the twins reacted the same way and drew out their blades in a battle ready stance.

An armored body pushed pass the foliage. My eyes immediately found the Aztec symbol on their clothing and some of the tension in my shoulders washed away. “What does Aztec want now?” I snapped, clearly agitated, and stepped up to them.

Once close enough to them, an all too familiar scent wavered over. Oh shit. It was Jacob, Zayden’s right hand man and his most loyal soldier.

Jacob took off his helmet, goggles, and face mask, showing off a stern expression. “This is where you fucking are? Out of all the places to hide, you picked the state above us,” he grounded out and marched angrily the rest of the way.

At first, I thought he was going to smack me upside the head for running away. Instead, Jacob wrapped his arms tightly around me and dug his fingers into my sides. “Wait until your father gets here.” At the mention of Zayden, I pushed him off of me and rapidly shook my head.

“No, he’s not going to,” I responded firmly and held him at an arm’s length away. “I don’t know how you found me but you must turn around and head back to Bend.”

He found my order funny and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Sunstreaker, surprisingly. “And who do you think you are?” he growled and moved over to tower over us. Jacob picked up his gun and pointed it at his head.

“I should be the one asking you that.” Jacob glanced over at me. “Are these two keeping you against your will? Because it they are, I have a team less than two minutes out.” Double crap.

Protectiveness swelled in my chest for the second time today. Not a good day to threaten the twins, my fellow friend. I placed a firm hand on his shoulder and pulled him so he would face me. “No, Jacob, they aren’t. They’re… “ I paused to find a word other than soulmate, “ they’re friends of mine. And I won’t be going back to Aztec so we are leaving.”

My good friend scoffed and securely grabbed my wrist. “You aren’t going anywhere, Azzie. After Mia lost contact with you awhile back, we had no clue where you were.” Wait, what? Mia double crossed me! “Your dad misses you, more than you know.” My resolve crumbled but not completely.

I glanced over at Sides and Sunstreaker then back to Jacob. “Believe me, I know but we all know why I can’t come back. And you’re a douche bag for trying to guilt trip me. Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be leaving.” I kicked him hard in the stomach and sent him flying back into a thick bush.

Thankfully, the two understood it was time to go and took off in the direction we came from. I immediately flew up above the trees to scout out if we had trouble.

Betrayal washed over every other emotion. Mia had double crossed me… Why? She promised- that was my first mistake. Promises were always broken, especially by those you cared about.

Warm tears prickled at the corner of my eyes. Then it came to me, I was kind of glad that Jacob interrupted our little date. Because I probably was about to make a mistake that would forever change my life. Was I going to kiss Sides? At that moment in the past, it seemed I didn’t have any control over any of my actions.

Who was I kidding? No one was forcing me to do anything then. My body was betraying me, falling into their tricks. Shortly after, my mind would soon follow. Then like always, they’ll leave me just like everyone does in my life.

During my little mind rant, I spotted three swat style vehicles half roaring down the back road. Oh, you got to be kidding me! I swooped down low with my wings at half mast in front of Sides and Sunstreaker.

Power floored to my fingers, nearly freezing the blood circulation to them. Once we got close to the vans, I sent a wall of ice to block them off from us and cornered them to the right side of the road.

The twins skated harder after their given opportunity. They barely had any room to squeeze by them but were able to make it nonetheless. I headed back above the trees for extra height and located the road not too far in the distance. Just a little further.

Once they were able to get on the main road, the two were able to transform. Their rear ends fish tailed, tires having trouble to gain traction on the snow. After Sunstreaker almost running into a tree or two, we were heading in the direction of the base. I felt guilt rise in me though and glanced back, unable to see the swat vehicles anywhere.

It hurt. Both from Mia betraying me and that I had to forcefully remove myself from the situation. Again. The first time was already hard enough, the second was worse but with the help of anger, it was an easy choice. But why would Mia double cross me? I guess it’s for the best that I no longer have any ties with her or anyone else with Aztec. This strengthened my thought process of you can’t trust anyone.

Instead of going back to base, the twins took a few turns to a spot off the beaten path. Sunstreaker was the first to transform with his brother following less than a second after. I had yet land and stared longingly in Jacob’s direction. Hot tears poured down my face, expelling some of my anger.

My claws dug into the palm of my hands, drawing blood. The substance dripped down but the physical wound was the least of my worries.

A raging hurricane of emotions tumbled around inside my mind. Heat and cold battled for dominance, both wanting to be released for destruction, for payback. I shuttered at the thought, nearly losing altitude, and hovered silently, tearfully.

Sides and Sunstreaker were quietly standing below and seemed unsure on how to approach me. The former reached out timidly but was nowhere near to touching me as I was floating above the tree tops. His twin acted like an idea struck him and bent down, both of his hands scooping up a handful of snow. What was he up to?

I changed most of attention to him but still gazed sorrowful into the distance. A ball of snow and some rocks pelted my side, nearly making me falling out of the sky. My eyes snapped onto the bot who did it and wanted oh-so to glare at him but I didn’t have the right mind set to do so. I huffed, shook myself free of some leftover flakes, and landed to put some distance between us.

The snow on either side me started to be stained with my blood from the self inflicted wounds. Blood rushing around my ears droned out many of the softer noises of the surrounding area. All I wanted to do was scream and shout and let it all out.

Instead of throwing a fit, I collapsed onto my hands and knees, tears melting the snow when they fell. My heart longed horribly to be in the arms of Zayden, to hear him call me his daughter, to listen to how much he loves and adores me. But… I probably would never have that again because this war was going to be the death of me, literally.

A semi warm, metallic hand gingerly rested on my shoulder. My gaze was brought up to Sunstreaker who held a small heartbreaking look. He sat carefully on his haunches and balanced well on his wheels.

My hands grabbed pitifully at the soft snow but found no comfort. I gazed over my shoulder back up to Sunstreaker and contemplated my next movement. Would it be wrong? Would it mess up everything between the three of us? But I needed comfort, right now.

I twisted around and latched onto any plating in reach on or near his chest. Tears streamed down my face and the blood on my hands stained his armor. It didn’t matter to me though, I needed this, I needed a hug, I needed comfort.

Sunstreaker stood like a statue, unmoving and tense. I realized a few moments later he wasn’t returning my sentiment and pulled away. Except, the mech reciprocated and carefully wrapped an arm around my shoulders, mindful of the two extra appendages there. I broke and dug my claws into the grooves they touched, holding on for dear life

Sobs raked my body and were the only sound besides his breath and the hum in his chest. All of the pain that was hidden deep came pouring out.

None of us said a word or made a sound, including Sides.

The bot in my grasp grunted yet stayed still and ran a soothing hand in the limited area between my wings. His actions were lulling and helped calm me down to a few hiccups.

After he reduced me down to subtle hiccups, I unclasped my claws from him and waited from him to do the same. Yet, Sunstreaker made no movement besides the gentle stroking. I cleared my throat and ducked under his arm, knowing he probably wasn’t happy with me.

Stupid! Stupid! I mentally smacked myself for being so much of an idiot. At this point, I might as well spill my life story of torture to them with the way we’re going… But it felt good to cry like that, again, something neither would ever know. A horrible sign of weakness and both experienced it and one of them was in the middle of it.

My bloody palms still stung, especially with the snow getting in the wound. I stared down at the two red, partial hand prints in the snow. “Azar?” Sides voice gently brought me back to the land of the living. My gaze drifted over to him, a little blurry from my crying fit. “What do you need?”

In an instant, the answer came to me and passed my lips before I could stop it. “I need… a hug.” Even with the pain coming from my hands and chest, I needed another thing to ground me.

He tilted his head and glanced over to the yellow mech. Blood smeared his shoulder plates as he still knelt and gaze fixated on me. I felt in the slightest bad for what I had done to his plating from my sudden outburst. “A hug?”

“I just need a hug. Something to tell me this is real, that I’m not making this up.” My voice shook nearly as much as my hands. All I needed was another grounder. Internally, it felt right to be held by both of them; of course not at the same time.

Sides smiled knowingly and vigilantly wrapped his arms around my waist. I was shocked at first, not entirely thinking this was the way he was going to go but relaxed against him. The bot wasn’t done though and lifted me off of the ground completely. My wings were pressed against my back, unable to steady myself. I latched onto him in surprise and felt him gently pressed his cheek to mine.

For being stuck in the cold for over two hours or more, his face was surprisingly warm. I purred lowly and allowed for him to hold me for some time.

The snow storm started to ease up with it power. Our tracks had been covered, including the blood which I was thankful for. My hands still lightly ached, though not as much as they originally did.

I patted his shoulder to silently tell him to let me go. Sides gave me one last squeeze before letting my feet touch the few inches of snow. My legs were half asleep from being suspended in air and trembled under my body weight. The mech didn’t leave me alone just yet and used his pointer finger to pet the area between my horns. If it wasn’t for what he had done for me the last half hour, I would’ve spat a glob of acid venom at him.

My crying fit helped release some pent up emotions and solved some of my problems, for the moment. What had happened to me will never go away and will forever be a haunting reminder. But at least I had these two for the time being. A shoulder to cry on, literally.

“Are you feeling better?” Sunstreaker questioned off to my left. This time he was standing with arms at his side. I had nearly forgotten he was there. Our eyes met and a semi familiar feeling blossomed in my chest.

An embarrassed smile adorn my features. “Yeah, I do. Thank you, both of you.” My gratitude for them came easier this time. But all good things come to an end. The blood on his shoulder plates stuck out like a sore thumb. I timidly approached him and motioned for him to kneel down.

Sunstreaker listened, a little hesitant. My hand grazed over the partially dried blood on his left side. I summoned water to get rid of both of the marks. During the middle of washing off the substance, my eyes glanced up to the mech.

His gaze had settled on me, observing me silently. I didn’t know what to do and returned back to ridding the blood off of his frame. Thankfully, my long, brown hair blocked out my view of the mech and gave me some privacy.

Once done, I noticed that Sides also had blood on him and requested the same thing from him. Sides knelt down next to the yellow iron giant and leaned on his hands for better access. “Sorry about the blood,” I mutter lowly, red dusting my cheeks and spreading to other parts of my body. A physical sign of my embarrassment.

Out of the corner of my eye, the corner of Sides’ mouth tilted up in a carefree way. “It’s alright. What happened anyhow?” He ran the tip of his fingers between my horns, drawing a short purr from me.

At first, I was going to stay silent and let the snow answer him but decided against it. “My emotions got the best of me. A friend of mine betrayed me and it… of course hurt,” I answered mentally tired and finished up. My eyes flickered between the wounds, noticing they were already healing.

Sides took my hand in his and watched me wash away the drying blood. Four little incisions were revealed to the world. He ever so gently ran a finger over the marks, drawing a hiss from me. “Please be more careful next time,” he sound like was on the verge of begging.

Like always, my answer was: “no promises. I don’t make promises.” Unlike anyone else, he wasn’t satisfied and gripped my wrist a little harder.

“Promise me. Please.” Now, the mech was begging for me to pledge for something I had no control over. I shook my head, silently telling him I couldn’t do that. Sides pulled me towards him, making me stumble. “Please, Azar. We don’t like seeing you hurt.” I sighed, knowing it was useless to argue against him as he seemed relentless.

“Alright, I promise. Now could we head back, it nearly night.” With the thick clouds still hanging low, it blocked out a lot of light and made the short day even shorter.

Both of them peered up at the darkening sky and glanced at one each other. “Sure, this time though, don’t fly blindly,” Sunstreaker poked fun at me. I knew that and chuckled with a ‘yeah.’

Before the two stood up to transform, I embraced the tranquility that hung in the surrounding air. The complete opposite from what it usual felt like between the three of us.

Sunstreaker was the first to convert back into his vehicle form and take the lead. His twin trailed behind him with me taking to the sky, gliding easily over the trees. I felt at peace for the time being. Internally though, I knew this wouldn’t last long and had to suck in all the happiness I received before things return to normal.

Me on the streets, fighting a losing battle.

And them, fighting an alien war that has spanned over millions of human years with human military assisting their kind.


	20. Chapter 20

The sky darkened to pitch black, not a star or the moon in the sky. Sides and Sunstreaker’s headlights were the only thing to be seen through the limited visibility. Even the two of them were having a hard time driving in this weather and darkness.

With this extra given time, I thought over the things that occurred. Mia double crossed me. She was almost a sister to me. When Zayden rescued me, it was an extremely difficult time to adjust back into a ‘normal’ life. I never met Mia beforehand. She was there for me, understood that I needed someone and Zayden couldn’t always be at my side. The man had a secret team to run and couldn’t keep an eye on me.

Mia promised me to keep my location secret to protect both me and Aztec. It had worked, putting distance between us. The attacks on smaller Aztec bases had decreased seventy or so percent once Jasper realized I was no longer working with Zayden. So until Jasper is defeated, I had to keep space between all of us.

My chest twisted painfully. I wanted nothing more to fly straight to Bend and hide under Zayden’s covers like a little kid. Fate isn’t that kind. If Jasper catches wind on me being back with Aztec even though I wasn’t, all Hell would break loose.

At least now Jasper knew more than well that I was working alongside with the military and aliens. It would definitely cause conflict since they have ties with the government. Aztec as well; that’s how they keep from getting caught. Either a good thing will come out of it or something terrible. Knowing my past history with things like that, it’s going to be the latter.

A sigh left my lips. Why was the world cruel to me from such a young age? Couldn’t a daughter hide from evil with her father protecting her? Was it so bad? I dipped down lower with the trees now at my sides and felt the tail ends of the aura both twins gave off. It felt nice and calming, ebbing my worries away; for the time being.

It didn’t take long to get back. No welcome party stood at the second entrance. Neither of the twins must have reported the run-in with Jacob and other Aztec soldiers. A little strange.

Sides and Sunstreaker transformed once they got close to their side of the base. I landed on a nearby street lamp and shook to get rid of any particles. Worse of it was the snow melting in my hair and freezing the strands together.

The two skated over to me, quivering slightly from the frost hanging on their frames. Sunstreaker definitely was his grumpy self due to cold and snow. “I don’t know why you have such a vengeance against winter. It’s the best time of the year if you ask me,” I teased him and swirled the snow around from touching him.

His twin seemed perfectly fine with it landing on him and looked like he enjoyed it. The golden mech scoffed and crossed his arms. “It’s cold, wet, and gets between the plating of my armor. I don’t know why you like it so much. Humans can’t survive in extreme temperature’s like this,” he argued and shivered to make a point.

Did they keep forgetting about the main thing here? It was kind of understandable with Earth being covered with humans but come on. “Remember, not fully human here, nor fully dragon. I’m just stuck in the middle with a little of other animal D-Annabelle!” I spotted said child waddling through the half foot of snow with thick winter gear on.

I immediately hopped off of the lamp post and glided swiftly over to her. Anna stopped in her tracks at the call of her name and turned to me. Her face morphed into excitement and joy. I scooped the kid off of the ground carefully and rocketed high above everyone else.

Anna instinctively wrapped her arms the best she could around me and squealed like a pig. Once at a reasonable height, I hovered and loosened my hold so she could lean back. The kid didn’t move an inch and one of her hand’s fingers dug in my neck. “Hey, Anna it’s okay. I’m not going to drop you.”

The kid hesitantly reclined and stared partially in fear at me. Then her gaze glance down to the height we were at. Anna scrambled to get an overly tight grasp on some part of me again. I laughed at her actions and gently patted her back. “Anna, I told you, I’m not going to drop you. If you want, I can put you down,” I offered.

Her hands squeezed harder for a few moments until she put trust into me and returned to her second position. A bright smile adorn my face as I nuzzled her cold cheek with my warm one. “You’re okay,” she breathed after some silence. I tilted my head, a little confused on what she meant by that.

“Eppie told me you got crushed under a building. He said you were fine but I didn’t believe him and since I was stuck in Daddy’s room, I couldn’t leave to see if he was telling the truth. Daddy did the same thing with Hidey when he got really hurt but he was lying. Hidey wasn’t fine,” she cried, hot tears rolling down her cheeks.

Oh kid. It hurt to see her crying and hugged her close to me, allowing for my heat to wrap around the both of us. “Kid, I’m tougher than you think. That building barely left a mark. Though I will say, it did take a lot out of me, energy wise. But see, I’m fine,” I assured her of my safety.

She softened up her crying and wiped away a few tears. I cleaned up the stray drops she let run before returning her to the ground. Yet, the kid had no intention of letting me go and held on tighter as I attempted to pull her off.

William and a couple of colleagues stood off to the side. The former was the first to approach us. “Welcome back, even though I didn’t know you left.” His voice hardened as if he was scolding a child.

It didn’t affect me. All I did was shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. “Can’t get mad at me. I was with the twins but we did run into a problem, kind of.”

The captain rolled his eyes. “Of course you three did. I swear anywhere those two go, trouble arises,” he mumbled to himself then turned his full attention to me. “What happened?”

What did he mean by that? I dangerously narrowed my eyes at him, silently warning him to watch his mouth. “A friend of mine in Aztec found me while we were out doing our excursion. They tried to ‘capture’ me but as you can see, failed to do so. There’s nothing bad about Aztec but I just thought that I would warn you they’re in the area.”

At this time, the twins made their approach but let the conversation to continue between William and I.

“So are they going to come knocking down our door and demand you back?” Anna whimpered quietly and hugged me tighter, refusing to let me go.

“I wouldn’t put it past Zayden to do that but you should be most worried about Jasper doing that. I am a highly powerful escaped experiment they want back.” I casually moved Anna to my hip and slipped my arm under her so she could sit comfortably.

To everyone around me, I seemed so relaxed about Jasper coming to find me but internally, fear caused my heart to race. Three or four years on the run with no end in sight. A tiring and losing battle for me and Aztec.

William’s face lightly paled at the reminder. Well, he did see me this morning and heard what I said. He cleared his throat and grabbed his daughter by her armpits. “Right, ehm, that makes sense. Um that reminds me, I want to talk with you tomorrow if you’re free.” Sounded reasonable. I nodded my head to accept the invite. “Well, it was nice talking with you. I’ll make sure to pass the info along to Boss Bot and Prowl.” He tugged on the leech stuck to me. Anna still had no intentions of letting go. “Come on, Belle. It’s time for dinner.”

His statement didn’t aid him and caused her grip to coil more. Anna muttered a ‘no’ when William moved his hands to her side. “I’ll give you to the count of three. If you don’t let go by then, I’ll turn into the tickle monster.” A childish expression washed over his face.

Anna instantly dropped onto her feet and tried to run away. Her father had the upper hand with his longer legs and easily scooped the kid up. Longing pang deep in my heart at the sight but I swallowed it. “See ya later,” I bid the humans good bye and flew off, the twins following me.

I landed on a street lamp on the far side of the base and breathed deeply to calm myself. My hands trembled as I stared down at them then curled them into a fist. Really world? Shoving that right in my face? Gods, it stung painfully. It was part of one of the many injuries my powers couldn’t touch to heal.

A gentle touch to my thigh slightly brought me back from my mind. I half-hearted gazed down at the red twin and emotionlessly stared. “What?” All of my emotions were shoved to the back of my mind, making me sound so dead.

His brows furrowed with pity growing in his blue orbs. Disgusting. “What’s wrong?” Even his voice was gentle as if he was talking to a scared animal.

“Nothing you need to worry yourself about.” My gaze flickered to the other side of the base where Ratchet’s Med. Bay sat. “I’m going to go to sleep. I’ll talk with you two later. And please don’t try to press this matter.”

My wings lifted me off of the lamp post. Sides reached out to catch my tail and stop me but was a second too late. I moved my tail out of reach, bid them a good bye, and headed towards the Med. Bay, in hoping of catching some Z’s.

Sides rolled forward to chase after me but Sunstreaker came to my rescue and stopped him. “Let her. She already had a tough day and doesn’t need us bugging her at all goons of the cycle.” The red mech sighed in defeat and watched me fly away. I felt the sign of guilt rise in the back of my throat, making it hard to swallow.

This is what I always to do to protect myself and others. Even knowing my name puts them in danger. At this point, the twins are knocking on death’s door by having that connection with me. Jasper just needs to answer and all Hell will break loose… Ha, as if I’ll let those scumbags touch Sides and Sunstreaker. I have already grew too attach to them so suck it Jasper.

And that’s a bad thing. Deep down inside of my heart, I want someone to love me, to be there for me, to hold me when I break down. But fate is cruel to me. She always seems like she’s on her period when dealing with me.

That thought got a chuckle out of me as I approached Ratchet’s Med. Bay. Said medic seemed to be home but had the only door closed to preserve heat. I awkwardly latched onto the side of the hangar right outside of my platform. The bot on the inside turned around when he heard the window opening. He smiled when he saw me but it washed away once he noticed the tears.

Ratchet quickly moved over and scooped me into his grasp once I was inside. I didn’t let any of my emotions out though, I had cried enough today and felt empty. He held me at eye level, his gaze observe for any injuries. Of course he came up empty handed as the small cuts were hidden from sight. “Is there anything you need or want?”

I make a grabbing motion twice towards his chest, needing to hear the hum; it pacifies me. It took him a couple of moments to realize what I wanted and followed through. The metal bars and headlights weren’t the most comfortable but I was seeking for the hum.

The noise ebbed away many of my fears and helped calm my racing heart. Yet, for the life of me, sleep wouldn’t come to me.

That didn’t bother Ratchet too much as he returned to his original position and sat in a chair. With his free hand, he picked up a tablet and let silence take over. The only time the silence was broken was from Ratchet occasionally tapping the screen.

Sleep never scooped me up in its grasp. Ratchet though, dosed off some time probably close to midnight with the tablet resting on his thigh. Luckily for me, the hand he was holding me seemed to be unmovable, keeping me close to the humming.

After an unknown amount of time passed, I leaped off of his hand and landed on the table in front of him. My body didn’t really need the sleep; my mind on the other hand was exhausted. And I still couldn’t believe Jacob dare use Zayden as a guilt trip!

The two of us did get along pretty well when I was there. We kind of had to. Jacob was almost always around Zayden as his second in command. Sometimes he acted like a body guard and that got really annoying quickly. Even Dad would get agitated by how Jacob behaved, especially when I was rescued. Anytime I was nearby my own father, Jacob would but himself between us two.

Zayden got so pissed off one time, he threw him out without another thought. Throughout the short years I was there, we got along better. Jacob seemed to really care about me the last couple of months I stayed at Aztec.

Oh great, here I go thinking about that again. Those memories and thoughts made my heart ache to be back home surrounded by my family, or what’s left of it.

I leaped into the air and flew over to my platform. The blankets were neatly folded and smelled of lavender, and I didn’t move them.

Now on edge from who last touched my blankets, I landed on the rafters and attempt to sleep. It had been almost four days without any rest and it’s definitely catching up.

Before the sun had time to pass the horizon, Ratchet awoke from his strange position. How could anyone sleep in a chair? It looked more than uncomfortable, especially if there’s no head rest which his chair didn’t.

The mech first checked his left hand for me. Not there. When he came up empty handed, he peered behind him towards the platform. Still not there. His gaze scanned over the tables as he stood up for a better way of trying to find me. “Azar? Are you in here?” he called out, seeming slightly worried. I decided to come out and hung upside down by my tail.

“Over here,” I hollered calmly. Ratchet spun around and marched over to me, a stern look in his eyes.

He didn’t waste any pointing a firm finger up at me. “Get down, please.” His voice was hardened with a soft edge to it. I lifted a brow at him and shrugged before complying. My body easily twisted with the help of the prehensile tail attached to me. The two extra appendages swiftly caught the air under them and held me chest level with Ratchet. “And that’s why I don’t like you being up there.”

“Well, someone touched my blankets and now they smell… nice but that’s beside the point. I don’t know who so I didn’t want to be near them,” I changed the subject and landed to stretch my cramped limbs.

“I had a friend of mine wash them for you. I thought you would like lavender. Does the smell bother you?” He walked over to the platform and picked up one of the blankets, having to stand on his tippy toes to grab it.

The cold stone that sits in my chest swelled with a hint of heat from his kindness. A small smile graced my lips. “Oh thank you. And no, the smell doesn’t bother me, I actually like it.” He gazed down at me with a smirk.

“I’m glad.”


	21. Chapter 21

Soldiers surrounded me, working on their computers or talking with another. My presences quieting their conversation as their eyes watched me stroll into the main hangar. A few were either too scared or had some respect to not stare, unlike the others.

The human I was searching for stood on the catwalk, in the middle of a discussion with Prowl. Surprisingly, Optimus was nowhere in sight. Usually if Prowl was here, the massive mech would be here as well. Their chat must not be important enough to include the iron giant.

Instead of taking the stairs, I leaped up to grab onto the bottom of the catwalk and simply climbed up. Nearby humans sat shocked at my sudden appearance. A couple decided to scoot back, fear or shock evident in their body posture. I ignored them and leaned against the railing, eyes finding the ground more interesting.

William noticed the silence in the hangar compared to its normal chatter and peered behind him. Our eyes meet. He excused himself from Prowl and came over to me with a raised eyebrow.

His presences sent the staring soldiers back to work without saying a word. “You sure know how to quiet a room, or in this case, a hangar,” he jested and motioned for me to follow him. He led me to an empty table with a tablet on it.

The device was already open and showed a map with three red dots and one black. William gave me the go ahead to take a look. I zoomed on one that seemed familiar and stood rigid, cold energy zipping through me. My talons dug slightly into the table top and created four indents.

“Azar? What’s wrong?” William questioned, his voice sounding somewhat far away. I shook my head to get me out that dark hole before it was too late.

It was a bit surprisingly they already found Jasper’s old main base this soon. But I guess having the ability to use satellites is handy. “Nothing. Ahem, I recognize this base. It’s Jasper’s old main base… I was held there,” I added on quietly and slid the tablet over to him.

Said man gave an expression full of pity and looked like he wanted to comfort me but thought against it. Smart. He tapped on the device and typed in something before handing it back. “I thought this was their main base, but I guess not. What about the others? And would it be hard to take it down?”

A chuckled escaped me at his latter question. I multitasked by going over to the other base and answering his question. “Oh yes. When my f-“ I paused for a second before correcting myself- “Zayden came to rescue me, he lost half of his soldiers in that battle. Either they died or had serious injuries.”

“And how many did he lose?” William asked slowly, being careful not to trigger me.

I peered over to him with a blank face, void of emotion. “Eight thousand.” No matter how many times Zayden told me, it was my fault those people died. Their blood is on my hands as well. Their numbers should be added to the count I already have.

The human dropped his mouth completely in shock and stared wide-eyed at me. “Ei-eight thousand!” I avoid my gaze back to the tablet and also recognized one of the other bases functions. Tears wanted to appear from the horrible reminder but I closed my eyes instead with my head turned.

“Yes. He original had sixteen thousand soldiers. After the battle, another four thousand left, all of them had understandable reasons. Now he’s left with a measly four thousand soldiers. And he still isn’t strong enough to defeat Jasper,” I stated and tightened my grasp on the table. Heat and cold battled in my chest, both wanting freedom and dominance.

If he could, his mouth would be connected with the ground. “Sixteen thousand! How did he have that many people?” I shrugged my shoulders, unsure on what Zayden did to acquire so many humans. Then he went and wasted half of their lives on me, a life that wasn’t worth saving. “Well, Jesus, he still has double our numbers.”

Well, William has a group of sentient alien robots that he works with. So he had some extra fire power than he thinks. “But look where it got him, to the bottom of the food chain. Sometimes large numbers aren’t your friend. Anyway, the base in North Carolina is a research base. The one in Texas is a holding facility. If we’re in time, we could save a few innocent kids lives.”

This caught his attention big time. “Like Jasper hasn’t done any of their… testing.” I passed the device back with a nod to confirm.

“Jasper also has facilities to hold their superhuman but this isn’t one. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any since they use them as their soldiers.” William tapped on the tablet some more before turning the screen off and holding it close to his chest.

“Awesome, thank you. I’ll let you know when we’ll be heading out, but be expecting it to be in a couple of day at the most.” I gave him a simple dip of my head then turned around and took off out of the hangar.

Cold, winter air bit at my scales, wanting nothing more than to consume my warmth as its own. The roads for the humans and vehicles/Cybertronians were half plowed through the snow. Said humans were having to trudge through the snow covered grounds to get to their designation. I chuckled lowly at their misfortune and felt pride for having my wings.

Speaking of the appendages, they carried me over to the nearest light pole. The scales on the bottom of my feet stung from the frosty metal. That didn’t deter me from furling my wings and melting any nearby snow.

My breath could easily be seen floating away at each exhale before disappearing. In the back of my mind, I felt the tall tell sign of the twins being nearby.

All they had to give was ease and comfort as if they knew of the brewing storm inside of me. After the reminder of ‘The Last Stand’ battle as Aztec soldiers started to call it, a flooding emotion of overwhelming guilt hit me, hard. There were trickles of anger within the mixture, mostly at Zayden but at me as well.

Truth be told, it was my fault for those deaths. Maybe not on both sides but might as well blame it on me, Rue always did. God damnit!

Burning heat swelled in the back of my throat at the thought. Instead of causing a scene and giving any fearful soldier an excuse to shoot me, I swallowed my rage and latched onto the connection.

Since my mind was now focused on it, their auras wrapped around me like a blanket. It gave me the chance to go back to properly breathing. I opened my eyes, not knowing they closed, and scanned over the vast grounds of the base to find Jazz facing me. With his visor in place, there was no physical way to find out if his eyes were on me.

Yet, with my heightened senses, I could feel his gaze on me and subconsciously narrowed my eyes at him. Without much thought, I straightened my back in a challenging way and stared him down like a hawk. I was not in the mood to deal with any who wanted to snoop in my business.

Luckily for the both of us, mostly him, he declined the challenge and turned to walk towards the training grounds. My eyes watched his form until it disappeared behind a hangar. I released a breath that I didn’t know I was holding and looked down at my hands.

The limbs were shaking. Energy was flowing between my fingers. What energy? I had no idea as my mind was on more important thoughts. Which included Zayden.

Thankfully, the blasted connection snapped me back to reality, harshly. An overwhelming dizzy spell nearly knocked me off the pole. My talons scraped against the metal and left marks in their wake. That was the least of my worries as I hung upside down; wings unfurled, ready to catch. It would’ve been a futile attempt.

This morning’s breakfast lurch into the back of my throat, threatening to spill. A weird sudden loss of motor function left me falling head first in the snow. During the short fall, the weight of my wings were able to semi-level out my body.

My back slammed into the snow covered concrete below. Pain rang out like an empty room. The air was knocked out of me as I lied there stunned and confused on what just happened.

A few long moments later, my body finally responded to my orders. I weakly raised a hand to stare at and saw double, possibly triple. What in the hell just happened? A dark idea sprung up in the back of my head the second after. Was this the beginning of my downfall? Had my body finally start to reject and/or give up on the foreign DNA?

I squashed down the random thought and struggled to my hands and knees. Nothing felt or seemed out of place and my wings were only sore from me landing on them. Note to self: never do that again.

Then embarrassment rushed through me like a tidal wave as the thought of some soldier seeing me fall. My gaze scanned over the area and found it deserted of any human life. Human was the main word.

Jazz stood against the hangar next to the training ground, gaze staring me down. Instinctively, my wings unfurled to make myself look larger, in another challenging way. This time though, the small bot didn’t take the warning and stayed in his spot. He better not have seen that, if he did, he better not tell a single soul or the gods help me.

I take back my challenge when he didn’t move and returned to the lamp post. All evidence of my fall was erased with a simple flick of my wrist beside the one witness. I wanted to stay pissed off but from the lack of sleep and my mentality on the verge of collapsed, I reserved back to my mind.

Even with the slight disturbance, the storm raged on with no end in sight.

Until the tall tell sign of a pair of brothers approaching. Electricity buzzed to life, dragging me back to the world around me. My eyes immediately found the blue orbs of the twins. They carried a calming aura around them, as if they sensed the trouble swirling inside of me.

Without a chance to stop myself or let them greet me, I spoke. “I really miss him. I also really wish for this damn to be over but we soldiers don’t get what we want, do we?” I don’t know what compelled me to say those words but they slipped out.

The two stopped in their tracks, bewildered. The moment after, heat swelled in my cheeks as red cover the skin there. “Azar…” Sides trailed off with a worrying tone. The two glanced at each other.

But I wasn’t done. “I’m tired, exhausted. This war I’ve been fighting has consumed most of my years and there’s no end in sight. I want it to be over. I want to rest peacefully without having to look over my shoulder for the rest of my life. It doesn’t help this connection is driving me insane. It’s making me want a happy ending. It’s making me feel like I deserve to be loved.” I silenced myself there before I spoke too much and broke down in front of them.

Their only answer was the cycling of their breathing. Now, I felt even more stupid and wanted the earth to spilt open and swallow me whole.

Sunstreaker was the first to move out of the three of us. Even though he didn’t favor touching humans, the mech rested a semi-cold hand on my thigh, sending a shiver down my spine. His brother came after with words as the yellow bot wasn’t the greatest with them. “Azar, you do deserve a happy ending and love. Anyone who has said that will meet our fists.”

Unlike him, the end of sentence ended with a slight growl, surprising both Sunstreaker and I. I scoffed in return and made the smallest movement to into Sunstreaker’s touch. “Well, I guess you’ll be taking a swing at me.” I also knew of another person who had grounded into my mind that I was just monster meant to kill but I didn’t want to bring that up, just yet.

The tension in the air slightly eased as the mech grinned. What did he have up his sleeve? “Alright, get ready,” his tone was light. Sides half-hearted/playfully swung at me and gave me more than plenty of time to dodge.

My wings protested quietly against the sudden use of them. I couldn’t help the laugh that escape at me from the simple dodge. Sides shook his fist above his head like an old man yelling at kids on his property would do. “Get back here so I can knock some sense into you.”

The mood had shifted mostly to a light, ease playfully aura the swallowed us. How the mech was able to remove the tension so quickly was unknown to me.

Except Sunstreaker wasn’t so fooled. “But seriously, Azar, you deserve happiness. We may not be the most stable sparkmates out there but we’ll give this,” he motioned between the three of us, “our best. For all of our sake.”

I knew better than to argue with the stubborn twin and ruin the lightened mood. “We can agree to disagree.” I ended it with that and landed on the light pole once more, wings a lot sorer than I gave them credit.

“Now,” Sides grinned wildly and scooped me off of the light pole. His hands were the same temperature as his brothers but I didn’t mind it. The mech set me down on one of Sunstreaker’s wide shoulders. Said bot looked a little surprised at his actions but allowed me to stay there. “Let’s go see what the Rec. room has for us.”

The three us started our trek through the snow towards our new designation.


End file.
